
Copyrights 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



The Natural History 

of 

Religious Feeling 

A Question of Miracles in the Soul 



An Inductive Study by 

Isaac A. Cornelison, D.D. 

Author of " The Relation of Religion to Civil Government in the 

United States of America — A State without a Church 

but not without a Religion " 



G. P. Putnam's Sons 

New York and London 

Cbe l&nfcfterbocfter fl>ress 

i 9 n 






Copyright, 1911 

BY 

WILLIAM T. CORNELISON 



Zbc "Rnfcfterbocftcr Qveee, Hew Ifforft 



<gCI.A29789l 






NOTE 

The author, who was in his eighty-third year, 
quietly passed away, probably during sleep, some 
time in the night of March 15, 191 1, while this 
book was in press. He had been in the best of 
health; and, in spite of rapidly failing sight, had 
worked up to the last evening on the correction 
of the earlier proof-sheets. The task of correcting 
the final proof, as well as that of completing the 
Index and the Table of Contents, had to be per- 
formed, without his help, by others who were less 
competent. 



PREFACE 

THE author has been led into the present 
investigation by the difficulty he has en- 
countered in his efforts to bring certain generally 
accepted notions regarding experimental religion 
into harmony with the great body of truth. He 
has no expectation of building for himself a com- 
plete system of philosophy; for, in his opinion, 
men will never be able to build, on earth, a tower 
reaching up to heaven: yet he thinks that they 
should be ever laboring to carry the building 
upward. He believes that their work, at any 
particular time, should be the shaping of the 
stones so that they shall be exactly fitted together, 
and the laying of them so that they shall make a 
continuation of the solid structure beneath. Each 
stage in the progress of knowledge has its unsettled 
questions, which the thinking men of the day are 
to settle, .one by one. "Not all questions are for 
all times.* ' 

Some of the unsettled questions of the present 
time relate to that body, vaguely conceived and 
variously defined, as the church; its nature, the 
qualifications necessary for membership therein, 



vi Preface 

and the work it has to do in the world. Christians 
are very far from agreement on any of these ques- 
tions. The proper relation of the church to the 
state has been a burning political question in Great 
Britain for many years, taxing the powers of her 
greatest statesmen; and now, the part which the 
church is to take in the education of the people, 
in that country, is a subject of controversy. The 
same questions are also agitating the public mind 
in France. In this country, where the church and 
the state are separate, the present relation of the 
state, not to the church, but to the Christian 
religion, is, to many persons, a subject of vital 
importance. Remembering the words of their 
Lord: "He that is not with me is against me, and 
he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad" 
(Matt, xxi., 30), they are often distressed as 
they see the State endeavoring to maintain a 
neutrality towards the Christian religion which 
has the practical effect of hostility. Some of these 
questions the author has discussed in another 
work. He proposes now to discuss some of the 
unsettled questions in the church itself, such as 
its relation to the non-communicant world: who 
are to be admitted to membership, and on what 
terms? To these questions the various Christian 
denominations give widely differing answers. In 
the early days of the church its members were 
called disciples, which means simply pupils or 
learners; of late years, the word is seldom used, 



Preface vii 

and the title Christians has taken its place, a title 
that was never given to the disciples by their 
Lord nor by any inspired authority ; given only by 
their enemies, and as a term of reproach. This 
change of title, insignificant as it may seem, was 
followed by very important consequences; nothing 
less than a change in the terms of membership in 
the church. The determining question now is: 
Are you a Christian? not, Are you a disciple? and 
it is held that the spiritual condition necessary 
for an affirmative answer to the first question is 
far different from that which is necessary for an 
affirmative answer to the second . In the beginning 
an act of the will, in obedience to the Master's 
command, "Follow me," with the faith and the 
feeling which were involved in the act, was a 
sufficient qualification for discipleship. Now, 
however, that part of the church which is called 
evangelical, holds that conversion is necessary to 
make a man a Christian and that conversion is a 
supernatural, divine work, a miracle in the soul, 
which is always manifested in the consciousness 
by unmistakable emotional experiences. 

The author cannot but think that this assump- 
tion involves a strange oversight of the fact that 
not one of those whom Christ called to be his 
disciples had undergone any such experience; and 
the fact that Peter, the only disciple whose con- 
version is recorded, was converted long after he 
had been an accepted and even a favored disciple. 



viii Preface 

The deductions made from this assumption 
are of the gravest import. It is alleged, or im- 
plied, that those who have had the experience of 
conversion are the chosen of God, that they are so 
changed in nature as to have become new crea- 
tures, are the children of God, and are destined 
to an eternity of blessedness; while those who 
have not had the experience are the rejected of 
God, are children of Satan, and are destined to an 
eternity of woe. Consequences so momentous 
would naturally give pause to a person of proper 
sensibility, before adopting the premises from 
which they are drawn. 

The author would say for himself that he has 
found it difficult to reconcile the facts, observed 
in the lives of those who profess to have had the 
experience of conversion, with the assumption 
that underlies the profession. He has, therefore, 
been compelled to subject the assumption itself 
to a critical examination; and to review the whole 
question of the supernatural or miraculous divine 
agency in religious experience. He has to confess 
that this investigation was undertaken to lay 
spectres of doubt which were beginning to appear 
in his own mind. He is somewhat familiar with 
the objections which have been brought against 
our religion from the domain of science, philosophy, 
and criticism; and he trusts that he has been able 
to concede to them all the weight they can justly 
claim ; yet he has to say that, if the balance in his 



Preface ix 

mind has ever been disturbed by those objections, 
preponderating considerations soon caused it to 
settle on the affirmative side of the question; but, 
that the difficulties he has encountered in the do- 
main of experimental religion have been much 
more seriously disturbing. 

He has to confess also that, in coming to the 
conclusion that the alleged miraculous experiences 
are the products of natural causes, he has had to 
make no small sacrifice of preconceived notions — 
notions which have been derived, not more from 
the religious opinions prevailing around him, than 
from his own experience — a never to be forgotten 
experience, in which he supposed that his own 
spiritual life began. 

The author thinks that the time has come for an 
advance to be made, in the religious world, like 
that which began, in the scientific world, with the 
appearance of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species; 
an advance, from an incorrect, to a more nearly 
correct, view of the divine order in the develop- 
ment of the spiritual life in man. 

He trusts that the work he has undertaken in his 
own behalf may serve to relieve in some measure 
the perplexities of others who have been likewise 
troubled; and may, at the same time, widen the 
scope of the church so that she shall not be guilty 
of rejecting any of those whom Christ has received ; 
denying them the benefits of her ordinances, her 
fellowship, and her culture. 



x Preface 

If the views he has presented should happen to 
be proved erroneous, he would console himself 
with the assurance that a full and sincere presen- 
tation of an error, by provoking correction, is 
one of the most effective means of extending the 
knowledge of the truth. 

I. A. C. 

Washington, III., 191 i. 



CONTENTS 

PART I. 

NATURAL CAUSES OF RELIGIOUS FEELING 

PAGE 

CHAPTER I 
Tropism 3 

Feeling, the cause of tropism — Heliotropism, geo- 
tropism , galvanotropism , stereotropism — Tropism , 
not directed by intelligence — The function of tropism 
— Tropism in men toward one another; of man and 
woman toward each other; of man toward the powers 
of the unseen world — Theotropism — An evidence of 
the existence of God — In two human tropisms the 
feeling may rise to the highest intensity — One taken 
to be miraculous. 

CHAPTER II 

Regeneration the One Miracle in the 

Human Soul . . . . 19 

Classification of alleged miracles — The grace of holy 
orders — Sacramental grace — Papal infallibility — The 
ordeal — Miraculous healing — Spiritual illumination — 
Regeneration. 

PART II. 

THE RELIGIOUS ECSTASY 

CHAPTER I 

The Ecstasy in the Heathen World . 29 

The Yoga — The ancient Oracles — The worship of 
xi 



xii Contents 

PAGE 

Dionysus — Demeter — The Eleusinian mysteries 
— Neo-Platonism — Sufism — The Medicine of the 
American Indians. 

CHAPTER II 
The Ecstasy in the Christian World . 44 

Not occurring in the experience of our Lord — 
The early Christians sober-minded and practical — 
Montanism of Phrygian origin — The experience not 
regarded as a fruit of the Spirit by some of the most 
eminent of the fathers — J. D. Michaelis on prophecy 
in Israel — Sanctions under which the prophets spoke 
— The effects of natural causes. 

PART III. 

CONVERSION 

CHAPTER I 

What is Conversion? 57 

Definition of conversion — Meaning of the word in 
the Scriptures — Exact determination of supernatural 
and natural factors important but impossible. 

CHAPTER II 

The Divine Agency in Conversion . . 63 

The divine agency not so manifested as to preclude 
differences of opinion and inconsistencies in action in 
the Christian world — Controversies springing from the 
uncertainty — Decision of the Congregational Synod 
at Boston in 1662 — Division of the first Presbyterian 
Synod in 1741 — The failure of Jonathan Edwards's 
effort to make the discrimination. 



Contents xiii 



CHAPTER III 

The Variety of Means Employed and the 

Difference in Result . . . -74 

The doctrines of theology — The conversion of Jona- 
than Edwards, David Brainerd, and other eminent 
Christians, not of the standard type — Means em- 
ployed by modern evangelism — Reduction of the 
amount and quality of the emotion in conversion. 

CHAPTER IV 
Natural Causes of Conversion . . 94 

The discontent, dissatisfaction, and distress arising 
from the physical, mental, and moral defects of human 
nature; and from the troubles unto which all men 
are born — The relation of the child to the parent — 
Sympathy and expectant attention — Obstruction to 
the natural tendency to turn to God — Degeneration 
— The reproductive impulse — Dr. Antsie. Prof. E. 
D. Starbuck. Prof. George A. Coe. 

CHAPTER V 

The Psychology of Emotion . . .130 

The nature and purpose of emotion — The source 
of emotion — Steps in the process of producing emotion 
— Impossibility of ascertaining the stage of the process 
at which the supernatural agency enters. 

CHAPTER VI 

Changes in Character and Life from 

Natural Causes 138 

Social and class influences — A slumbering ideal 
of character, awakened and becoming dominant — 



Contents 



PAGE 



Diogenes, Diocletian, Charles V., St. Francis of Assisi, 
Raymond Sulli, Louis V. — Mary Reynolds — Morbid 
physical conditions. 

CHAPTER VII 

Prophecy and Pentecost . . . .148 

Abnormal mental conditions, insanity, catalepsy, 
and the trance, generally attributed to the agency 
of superior beings — In the hypnotic trance the mind 
of the subject controlled by the mind of the operator 
— Such control by a superior being the specific char- 
acteristic of prophecy — All ages, nations, and races 
have had their prophets — Distinguishing character- 
istics of the Hebrew prophets — The prophetic state 
comparatively rare among them — Not encouraged 
by credulity — Prophecy of the time when the gift 
should be in the possession of all — Joel's prophecy 
fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, only in token — 
To be fulfilled, in fact, only in the future world — 
The assumption that it has been repeated in a 
revival of religion, even the most exciting, a delusion. 

CHAPTER VIII 

The Test of Experiment . . . . 160 

The hypothesis of supernatural origin will not bear 
the test of experiment. 

CHAPTER IX 
Conclusion and Deductions . . .162 

Conversion not produced by supernatural agency — 
No denial of the divine agency in religious experience 
— A truer and larger conception of that agency — 
Miracles always possible, but will not occur when 
the purpose they are intended to serve is fully met — 
Providence in the inner world a precious truth — Pro- 



Contents xv 



vidence not excluded from that world, only the mir- 
acles supposed to be recognized therein — Even new 
truth may be communicated by providential action. 

PART IV. 

PRACTICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE 
DOCTRINE OF CONVERSION 

CHAPTER I 

Evils Attending Conversion . . .169 

A cause of unbelief in men of the world — In- 
volving, on the part of the converted, a forbidden 
judgment of their fellow-men — Putting a strain on 
the pure motives of the ministry — Shutting out from 
the Church many who may be true children of God. 

CHAPTER II 

What Is the Church? 188 

Various senses of the word — Christ did not give a 
definition of, nor organize, nor promulgate a con- 
stitution — His use of the word — The synagogue — 
The doctrine of conversion makes the state un- 
christian and irreligious — Hindering the divine 
purpose to bring all the states and all the churches 
into a holy catholic union, in which each will ac- 
knowledge the authority of the King of Kings and 
Lord of Lords — The state now doing a large part 
of the work which the disciples of Christ were 
commanded to do. 

CHAPTER III 
Evangelism 200 

The doctrine of conversion has brought into the 
Church a new office, evangelism, attended with evils 



xvi Contents 



PAGE 

peculiar to itself — It is partial in its work of saving 
sinners, complaisantly leaving those in the rural 
regions, a large majority, to perish — It depreciates 
and discourages the work of the pastor — Gives 
incorrect answers to the questions: What is the 
main duty of the Christian? and Who are regenerate? 
— It is sacerdotal in its pretensions — Rejects the 
covenant God has made with believing parents — 
Overlooks the importance of spiritual culture — The 
kingdom of heaven in man is as the mustard seed 
or as the leaven — Culture depends for its success on 
conditions precedent, which God alone can supply 
— Matthew Arnold's definition of culture defective 
— Evil of holding that the means of spiritual 
culture are effective only in the converted — Do the 
good consequences overbalance the evil? Growing 
disbelief of the doctrine — The decision day — The 
women in the Church outnumber the men — Religious 
character of the various organizations of men for 
mutual benefit. 

CHAPTER IV 
Repentance and Forgiveness . . . 220 

The ethical sense — Its likeness and unlikeness to 
other senses — Its action attended with feelings either 
pleasant or painful — Doing right attended with pleas- 
ant feelings; doing wrong with painful feelings — 
What strengthens these feelings — The esthetic sense 
of the artist a cause of pain as well as pleasure — The 
pain a condition of success in his work — The evils 
of life not wanton inflictions of God — The justness 
of God and the sinfulness of man the explanation of 
these evils — Freedom the prerogative of rational 
creatures — The law of God a law of life and the 
penalty necessarily death — Forgiveness the most 
important practical concern of man — Conditions of 
forgiveness on the part of God — Removal of the 



Contents xvii 



penalty and security against its being incurred again 
— On the part of man, repentance and desire for it 
— Direct action of the Spirit on the soul giving re- 
pentance, but imperceptible by the person receiving 
it — It may be presumed that God would use all the 
natural means adapted to the purpose to bring sinful 
man to repentance — Repentance and forgiveness 
secure salvation, but both to continue through life 
— The providence of God co-operating with his grace 
and giving repentance — Natural means that tend to 
produce repentance. 

CHAPTER V 

The Evangelism Needed . ,. . . 227 

The quickening of the spiritual life in all men — 
Importance of their using the means of spiritual 
culture — Encouragement to the use of these means 
— Susceptibility to exalted emotion in the nature of 
man — Like the first love between man and woman — 
The religious rapture may be not only a pleasure, 
but in certain conditions may serve a good purpose. 

APPENDIX 

Examples of Conversions Gathered from 

a Wide Range of Space and Time . 233 

The apostle Paul — St. Augustine — Martin Luther — 
John Bunyan — Jonathan Edwards — David Brainerd 
— Asahel Nettleton — Charles G. Finney — Henry 
Ward Beecher— S. H. Hadley. 

Index 269 



Part I 

The Natural Causes of Religious Feeling 



CHAPTER I 
Tropism 

WE shall not attempt to frame any definition 
of religion, as a preliminary to the investi- 
gation upon which we are now entering ; nor shall 
we make any search among the definitions which 
have already been given, with a view of finding 
one that shall be acceptable to ourselves. We 
shall start our investigation from the obvious 
fact that feeling is the efficient antecedent of all 
religious action, whether it be of both body and 
mind in the practice of magic, in superstitious 
observance, in worship ; or of the mind alone in the 
construction of the various systems of mythology 
and theology. In beginning our investigation 
with the study of this feeling, it will be pertinent, 
if not necessary, to make a study of feeling in 
general. That study should begin, of course, with 
the simplest and least complicated manifestations 
of feeling — with those which are found only in the 
lowest forms of animal life. 

Feeling, in these creatures, is manifested princi- 
pally, if not only, in their turning towards, or 
3 



4 History of Religious Feeling 

away from, certain things. This turning has 
been called tropism, from a Greek word which 
means to turn; and the turning has been given 
various special names, in accordance with the 
object to which or from which, the turning is 
made, such as heliotropism, geotropism, etc. The 
turning towards an object is called a positive 
tropism, and the turning away, a negative tropism. 
A familiar example of positive heliotropism is to 
be seen in the plants in a window which, however 
they may be set, will soon be found turning towards 
the light. Both positive and negative heliotro- 
pism may be seen in the germination of the seed. 
If a seed be placed on moist ground, that part of 
the germ which is to be the stem will, when it 
begins to grow, turn upward toward the light, 
and that part, which is to be the root, will turn 
downward away from the light. 

The turning of the plants in the window towards 
the light has been explained by the supposition 
that the light promotes the storing of carbon on 
the side of the stem next to the window, which 
hardens it so that it cannot expand ; while the other 
side, being softer, expands. This explanation, 
however, will not account for all the move- 
ments of plants, not even for all that are heliotro- 
pic. It will not account for the action of the 
crocus, which opens its flower in the morning and 
closes it in the evening; nor for that of the evening 
primrose, which opens its flower in the evening 



Tropism 5 

and closes it in the morning; nor for that of the 
honey locust, which closes its leaflets in the evening 
and opens them in the morning ; nor for that of the 
acacia, the leaflets of which close at sunset and 
open at sunrise, while its flowers open at sunset 
and close at sunrise. This supposition fails en- 
tirely to explain the action of the sensitive plant 
which folds its leaflets at a touch ; or the action of 
the tendrils of the vine, sweeping round in a circle 
and instantly twining round a twig at a touch; 
or the action of the ivy, turning to the wall; and 
the action of the cilia of the spores of algae, by 
which they swim as though they had the power of 
voluntary motion. Botanists are agreed that the 
movements of plants cannot all be explained by the 
action of mechanical forces. The only explana- 
tion possible is that the Creator has lodged in 
them a dormant irritability, which is roused by 
a stimulus received from certain external objects 
and influences. We can hardly fail to notice two 
things in these movements: (1) How strikingly 
this roused irritability in plants is like to feeling 
in the animal creation 1 ; (2) that the turning 
secures some good for the plant which could not 
otherwise be obtained. 

1 Mr. Francis Darwin in the inaugural address of the Presi- 
dent of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 
at Dublin on September 2, 1908, maintained that plants may- 
acquire habits which are transmissible; that their actions in 
certain cases are determined by the effect on the organism of 
previous actions; and adduces in support of his supposition the 



6 History of Religious Feeling 

In this investigation we are more directly 
concerned with tropisms in the animal kingdom; 
for they are, without question, prompted by 
feeling. * 

Heliotropism. A Hydroid eudendrium, placed 
near a window, was found to bend towards the 
window like a positively heliotropic plant. Moths 
at night turn towards the flame of a lamp or the 
blaze of a fire. Planaria torva, placed at night in 
a dish, the half of which was covered with black 
paper, were all found under the covered part of 
the dish in the morning. Certain little creatures 
of the sea, negatively heliotropic, descend to the 
depths during the day and come to the surface 
at night. 

Geotropism. If certain Actinians, a Cerianthus, 
for example be laid horizontally on a wire netting 
the meshes of which are so fine that the body of 
the creature can be drawn through only by force, 
and the netting be placed on the top of a cup in an 
aquarium, the body of the animal will soon be 
found forced through one of the meshes so that it 



fact that plants which have been accustomed to sleep at night 
retain the habit when kept continuously in the dark. He goes 
so far as to say that in "all living things there is something 
psychic"; that in plants "there is a faint copy of what we know 
as consciousness in ourselves." 

1 Prof. Jacques Loeb, M.D., has made a laboratory study of 
tropism in the lower animals, and we shall take our examples 
of animal tropisms from his work entitled Comparative Physiology 
of the Brain an&JComparative Psychology. 



Tropism 7 

hangs in a vertical position. If the netting be 
then turned upside down, the lower part of the 
body will turn and force itself down through an- 
other mesh ; and if the netting be turned again, the 
creature will be found woven in and out of three 
meshes in its effort to gain a position in line with 
the force of gravitation. Other animals have a 
negative geotropism. If a Cucumaria be placed 
on the lower edge of a glass plate which is in a 
vertical position, it will crawl to the upper edge 
of the plate; and if the plate be revolved on an 
axis, so that its position is reversed, the animal will 
crawl to the edge which is then the uppermost. 

Galvanotropism. If a constant galvanic cur- 
rent be passed through a trough in which are 
larvae of Amblystoma so that it shall pass from 
the head to the tail, the body will bend upward; 
and if the current be reversed, the body will be 
bent downward. If the current be passed from 
the head to the tail, the hind legs will be braced 
backwards, making the forward movement easier ; 
and if the current be reversed, the hind legs will 
be braced forward making the backward move- 
ment easier. Crayfish and shrimps are affected 
in the same way by the galvanic current. 

Chemotropism. If one side of the bottom of a 
box be covered with white blotting paper and the 
other side with the compost of stables, and certain 
worms, that live in compost, be placed on the 
blotting paper, they will all be found in a little 



8 History of Religious Feeling 

while gathered in the compost. If a piece of fat 
meat and a piece of lean, both fresh from the same 
animal, be placed side by side where there are 
flies, it will be found that the eggs of the flies are 
all laid on the lean meat. Both the fly and its 
larva are chemotropical to certain chemical 
influences that are in the lean meat and are 
not in the fat. 

Stereotropism. There is a tendency in certain 
animals to have a part, or the whole of their 
exterior, touched by some hard body. It is this 
which causes the earthworm to make its way into 
the ground ; and causes certain insects to seek the 
cracks in material objects. If a number of Nereis 
and an equal number of glass tubes, about the size 
of their bodies, be placed in a dish of sea water, it 
will be found after a while that there is a Nereis 
in each tube; and they will remain there even if 
the tubes be exposed to the direct rays of the 
sun, which would cause their death. 

In all of these cases, this is to be observed: 
That it is feeling, and not intelligence that de- 
termines the movement. Some of the creatures 
can hardly be said to have any intelligence, being 
destitute of the organs of intelligence; but Prof. 
Loeb has put the fact beyond question by experi- 
ment. Sixty specimens of Planaria, which have 
not only a brain but comparatively well-developed 
eyes, were cut transversely just behind the brain 
and the eyes, and in the evening were put in a dish 



Tropism 9 

with vertical sides, half of the dish being covered 
with black paper. In the morning nearly all the 
pieces were found under the covered side of the 
dish. A few of both parts were huddled together 
in a corner of the other side where the light was a 
comparative minimum. The only difference be- 
tween the two parts was that the anterior part 
reacted to the light in one minute while the poste- 
rior part required about five minutes for the reac- 
tion. The same experiment with earthworms 
and the worms that live in the compost of stables 
was followed with the same results. 1 

I. It appears, therefore, that action prompted 
by feeling, without intelligence, is the distinctive 
characteristic of all tropism. 2. It should be 
noticed in these cases that the function or office 

x Prof. Loeb goes so far as to affirm that tropism is, in all 
cases, the result of mechanical forces. He says: "If a moth 
be struck by the light on one side, those muscles which turn 
the head towards the light become more active than those of 
the opposite side, and correspondingly the head of the animal 
is turned toward the source of light. As soon as the head of 
the animal has this orientation and the median plane (or plane 
of symmetry) comes into the direction of the rays of light, the 
symmetrical points of the surface of the body are struck by the 
rays of light at the same angle. . . . Thus it is led to the source 
of the light. . . . Hence the 'instinct' that drives animals into 
the light is nothing more than the chemical — and indirectly 
the mechanical — effect of light. The moth does not fly into the 
flame out of 'curiosity,' neither is it 'attracted' by the light. 
This, notwithstanding that the hypothesis fails to explain the 
circling of the moth around a light which is enclosed in a 
translucent globe. " — Comparative Physiology of the Brain and 
Comparative Psychology, 181, 182. 



io History of Religious Feeling 

of tropism is the promotion of the welfare and 
the conservation of the life of the creature; the 
only exception being the moth, which is impelled 
by its heliotropism to fly into the flame; but this 
may serve a good purpose in the general animal 
economy, the prevention of an undue multiplica- 
tion of these insects, as the multiplication of others 
is prevented by birds, bats, and parasites. 3. It 
is to be noticed that the feeling before the move- 
ment is the opposite of the feeling which comes 
after the movement; in the one case, discomfort 
or pain; in the other, comfort or pleasure. 

It is reasonable to suppose that tropism will be 
less conspicuous in animals which are endowed 
with intelligence than in others; but well-marked 
tropisms are still to be found among the higher 
animals. Gregarious animals have a positive 
tropism toward the members of their own flock; 
the dog has a negative tropism toward his own 
kind and a positive tropism toward mankind. In 
view of the unity of the animal creation, of which 
man is a member, it will be reasonable to suppose 
that he is not entirely destitute of tropisms. 
That he has certain turnings which are produced 
by a primitive and blind impulse, is obvious, not- 
withstanding that most of them are complicated 
with motives derived from his intelligence. A 
positive heliotropism appears in the turning of the 
eye of the infant toward the light, and a negative 
heliotropism appears in all men when they desire 



Tropism n 

to sleep. A geotropism appears in the dizziness 
a man feels when on a high pinnacle, and in the 
shudder he feels at the thought of being without 
any solid footing at an elevation like that of the 
clouds. The distress he feels when alone and the 
satisfaction when another is near spring from a 
tropism. It is an anthropotropism that makes 
man a social being. The turning of one sex toward 
the other is a tropism, a primitive action, and in- 
dependent of the intelligence. The sight of the 
muliebria by the male will cause a turning toward 
the female that is antecedent to any exercise of 
intelligence; and, in some cases, may be so strong 
as to overcome the will, even when it is set in 
opposition by the clearest intelligence. The 
clothing of civilized peoples is evidence of a human 
tropism. The turning of the mother toward her 
new-bom ' off spring and of the child toward the 
mother is a tropism. In all cases the pleasure 
has a constitutional, and not an intellectual basis. 
We can easily see that the last two tropisms fulfil 
an important office in the economy of life and that, 
on this account, the pleasure attending them is one 
of the strongest of which the human being is capa- 
ble. The milder degree of pleasure, attending the 
turning of man toward his fellow man, is friend- 
ship; the more intense pleasure, attending the 
turning of one sex toward the other, and of 
the parent toward the child, and of the child 
toward the parent, is love. The proverbial 



12 History of Religious Feeling 

blindness of love must be taken as the mark of 
a tropism. 

Theotropism. There is in mankind another 
turning which exhibits all the specific marks of a 
tropism. It is the turning toward certain powers 
and beings that are supposed to dwell in the un- 
seen world and to hold this world as a chief pro- 
vince of their domain, exerting a beneficent or a 
baleful potency in the affairs of men. 

This tropism is proved to be primordial by the 
fact that it is both universal and blind. If not 
universal, the exception will be found in the very 
lowest of the race. A while ago, it was alleged 
that a savage tribe had been found that was desti- 
tute of all religious ideas; but recent investigations 
have shown that the statement was incorrect, 
based on insufficient information and hasty con- 
clusions. A definition of religion might easily 
be framed, under which a people could be found 
of whom it might be said that they were without a 
religion; but none could be found who were with- 
out a superstition; and superstition, as well as 
religion, springs from the inherent tendency to 
turn to God. 

The origin of religion has been the subject of 
many learned disquisitions; but no theory on the 
subject has yet been propounded which has met 
with general acceptance. In one of the latest 
and most elaborate of these discussions, we find 
the following statement: 



Tropism 13 

To the question as to when and how man became 
possessed of those faculties of thought and imagina- 
tion, those impulses of feeling, and needs demanding 
a practical satisfaction, in which the psychological 
sources of religion lie, only a negative answer can be 
returned. We do not know when or how man began 
to be a religious being. When we find him first, we 
find him already religious. 1 

This turning of mankind toward the unseen 
world is also blind, not springing from any know- 
ledge they have of the powers or beings dwelling 
therein ; and not less blind in the higher than in the 
lower races. "Canst thou by searching find out 
God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto 
perfection? It is as high as heaven; what canst 
thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou 
know? " {Job. xi., 7, 8). " " No man knoweth who 
the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, 
but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal 
him" {Luke x., 22). "No man hath seen God 
at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in 
the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him" 
{John i. , 1 8) . " Dwelling in the light which no man 
can approach unto ; whom no man hath seen, nor 
can see" (1 Tim. vi., 16). In addition to these 
declarations of the Scriptures, we have the con- 
clusion of philosophy that it is impossible for the 

x The Philosophy of Religion, by George Trumbull Ladd, LL.D., 
i., 150 



14 History of Religious Feeling 

Infinite, remaining infinite, to be known by, or 
to be made known to, the finite mind. 

If, however, this be a tropism, two conclusions 
must inevitably follow: the one speculative, the 
other practical. 

I. The turning is, in this case, as in the others, 
evidence of the existence of that which causes it. 
The turning of the Cerianthus, were it capable 
of thought, would be evidence to it of the existence 
of the force of gravitation; the turning of the 
Hydroid eudendrium would be to it evidence of 
the existence of light ; the movements of the larvae 
of Amblystoma would be evidence to them of 
the existence of the galvanic current. These 
creatures are incapable of the thought that goes 
by induction, from the effect to the cause; and 
they cannot be said to have any knowledge of the 
cause of their tropism. Man, however, is capable 
of such thought, and his tropism is evidence to 
him of the existence of its cause; but it gives him 
knowledge only of the existence, not of the nature, 
character, plan, or work of that cause. It will 
be the task of his mind to acquire that knowledge; 
the work of his life to "seek the Lord, if haply he 
might feel after him and find him. " The work of 
correcting all the errors that have crept into his 
supposed knowledge of God ; to refine away all its 
crudeness, and carry it on to perfection, will be 
slow and laborious, requiring ages for its comple- 
tion. It is probable, indeed it might reasonably 



Tropism 15 

be expected, that God, in causing the tropism in 
man, the creature, who was made in his own image 
and after his own likeness, would impart to suscep- 
tible individuals some intimations of his scheme 
of human development; it might be expected, 
that the intimations would be fragmentary 
and obscure; and that the prophets themselves 
would have to search "what, or what manner 
of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in 
them, did signify, when it testified beforehand 
the suffering of Christ and the glory that should 
follow." 

2. The practical conclusion is, that what is 
true of all other tropisms must be true of this, 
namely, that it is for the conservation of the wel- 
fare and life of the creature in whom it has been 
placed. We have seen that the lower animals 
suffer if hindered from following their tropism and 
that they perish if the hindrance be continued ; and 
it must be assumed that the hindrance of this 
tropism in man will be followed with like conse- 
quences; indeed, with more serious consequences, 
as this tropism, not being a turning to those things 
that minister to the appetites of the body, but 
to things that minister to the aspirations of the 
soul, belong to the finer and higher part of man's 
nature. A damage to the capstan of an ocean 
steamer might be regarded as a serious accident, 
but it would not be so serious as a damage to the 
chronometer or the compass. The one is a coarse 



1 6 History of Religious Feeling 

structure, and the other is a fine piece of mechan- 
ism; damage to the one might cause embarrass- 
ment; damage to the other might result in wreck. 
The individual who resists or suppresses this tro- 
pism will give his attention to the inferior interests 
of life; he will be inclined to the indulgence of 
his appetites and passions, and will be tending 
toward destruction. It will be better for man- 
kind that this tropism should have free course, 
even when it leads into superstition and idol- 
atry, than that it should be suppressed. A 
man who is truly humane would not deprive 
the heathen of their idolatry unless he could 
give them, in its stead, the knowledge of the 
living and true God. 

In most of the tropisms in animate creatures the 
feeling which attends the turning is mild and 
uniform; but there are two tropisms in man in 
which the feeling may rise to the highest pitch 
of intensity — the turning of one sex to the other 
and the turning of man to God. In the one case 
the feeling may rise from a quiet deference to a 
passionate love; in the other it may rise from 
a mild reverence to an overpowering ecstasy. 
These experiences occur only in exceptional con- 
ditions, and in those conditions, serve a good 
purpose in the economy of life, as we shall see. 
But they are so impressive and so extraordinary 
that they are attributed to a divine agency. 
One says : 



Tropism 17 

Yes, love indeed is light from heaven, 

A spark of that immortal fire, 
With angels shared; by Allah given, 

To lift from earth our low desire. 1 

Another tells us that: 

Marriages are made in heaven. 8 

These statements are generally regarded as 
mere fancies of the poet, but many believe that 
the exalted religious experiences are the product 
of immediate divine action upon the soul. All 
Christians believe that God, by his providence, 
rules in the outer world ; that, in some inscrutable 
perhaps inconceivable way, he works his will, 
in and through nature, without breaking a single 
thread in the reticulation of her laws; but all the 
exalted religious experiences are held to be mirac- 
ulous. It is admitted that in the outer world 
miracles have been of rare occurrence and that 
they have long ago ceased; but it is declared 
that, in the inner world, they are of daily occur- 
rence, and that they constitute the specific char- 
acter of a genuine religious experience. They 
who would enter the inner world for the purpose 
of testing this assumption, as the like assumptions 
are tested in the outer world, are regarded as 
profaning the holy of holies and will be met with 
the warning, "Procul, Procul, este profani." 

1 Byron, The Giaour. 2 Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 



1 8 History of Religious Feeling 

But the exact ascertainment of truth, even in 
the holy of holies, cannot be a profanation; and, 
of all places in the, world, that is the place in which 
the ascertainment of the truth is of the greatest 
importance. 

We propose, therefore, to inquire into the reality 
of the miracles which are supposed to have been 
wrought in the human soul. 



CHAPTER II 

Regeneration the One Miracle in the 
Human Soul 

THE alleged miracles of the inner world may be 
divided into two classes. The distinctive 
characteristic of the first class is that the working 
of them does not come within the cognizance of the 
person in whom they are wrought ; that they are, 
wholly divine, not in any part the product of 
natural causes or of human agency; the person 
in whom they are wrought can neither co-operate 
in the work nor obstruct it. The alleged miracles 
of this class are: 

i. The Grace of Holy Orders. It is supposed 
that persons holding holy orders are in possession 
of certain supernatural powers, which they are 
able to communicate to others by the laying on 
of hands. This grace is supposed to have come 
down, in unbroken succession, from the apostles 
who, by the laying on of their hands, communi- 
cated to others those miraculous powers called 
" spiritual gifts." This supposed supernatural 
power, when exercised, is not now, and probably 
19 



20 History of Religious Feeling 

never has been, since the apostolic age, followed 
by ascertainable effects, and has been regarded 
as miraculous only by those who find satisfaction 
in the belief; and by them, without other ground 
in fact, than the satisfaction it affords. 

2. Sacramental Grace. The church of Rome 
holds that the sacraments are made efficacious 
by a miraculous exercise of divine power in the 
person who receives them. The older Lutherans, 
in their doctrine of consubstantiation, and the 
Calvinists, in their doctrine of the spiritual pre- 
sence, have held that there is a supernatural 
divine action within those who have true faith 
when receiving the sacraments. In none of 
these cases, however, have any unquestionable 
effects of the divine agency appeared, and the 
doctrine must, therefore, be left in the realm of 
unverifiable hypotheses. It is for this reason, 
perhaps, that the Zwinglian doctrine, which 
denies the reality of any such supernatural agency 
in the sacraments, has come to be the prevailing 
doctrine of the Protestant world. 

3. Papal Infallibility. The Roman Catholic 
Church has proclaimed the doctrine of the infalli- 
bility of the Pope, when speaking ex-cathedra; 
in which doctrine one or the other of two different 
things may be affirmed. I. That the Pope is 
really infallible, when speaking officially ; rendered 
so by supernatural agency. 2. That he is to be 
regarded as infallible, when so speaking. In the 



Regeneration the Soul's One Miracle 21 

one case, he might reasonably be called upon to 
attest his claim of supernatural power by such 
signs and wonders as those by which Christ and 
his apostles attested their claims to the possession 
of such power; but no such signs and wonders 
have ever been wrought. In the other case, no 
real infallibility is claimed; it is simply asserted 
that the Pope is the supreme authority in the 
church, that from his decision there is no appeal, 
and that no one may question its correctness. 

4. The Ordeal, In the ordeal by fire, water, 
and battle, matters in dispute and questions of 
guilt or innocence were supposed to be deter- 
mined by supernatural divine action within the 
person undergoing the trial. The whole civilized 
world now denies the reality of any such divine 
action. 

5. Miraculous Healing. That there have been 
cases of the healing of the king's evil by the 
touch of a king; of the healing of various diseases 
by the touch of holy relics, by the laying on of 
hands, by prayer, and by faith, can hardly be 
denied ; but natural causes are now known, which 
are fully adequate to the explanation of all the 
facts; and the hypothesis of supernatural agency 
is, therefore, excluded. 

6. Spiritual Illumination. In every religion 
there are two distinct elements: the one intellec- 
tual, a knowledge of truth; the other emotional, 
a state of feeling. Scarcely any one believes that 



22 History of Religious Feeling 

there has been, since the close of the Scripture 
canon, any direct action of God on the human 
mind, communicating new truth. The illumina- 
tion of the mind and the opening of the under- 
standing by the Spirit, are believed to be an 
action on the emotional nature, enabling men to 
see truth which has already been revealed. It is 
providential; by the direction, not by the inter- 
ruption, of the operation of natural causes. The 
statement by the apostle Paul, in Rom. viii., 16, 
that "the Spirit itself beareth witness with our 
spirit that we are the children of God, " some of the 
most judicious commentators interpret as meaning 
that the Spirit, acting providentially within us, 
produces the fruits of the Spirit, which, coming 
under our observation, are evidences that we are 
the children of God; or that, acting in the same 
way, he produces filial feelings and affections 
which we infer can come from no other source. 
In either case, the operation of the Spirit is matter 
of inference, not of observation. 

Dr. Horace Bushnell, in his work on the Natural 
and the Supernatural, and Dr. L. F. Stearns, in his 
work on the Evidence of Christian Experience both 
contend that there may be now what we would 
call a supernatural communication of truth to 
man. But there is not in existence any body of 
truth, so communicated, which men are under 
obligation to accept as a divine revelation. These 
communications are supposed to give to the per- 



Regeneration the Soul's One Miracle 23 

son himself nothing more than the knowledge 
of his own relation to God; and, therefore, are not 
supposed to have validity or authority for any 
other person. We conclude, therefore, that the 
facts in view are not sufficient to warrant the 
belief that the witness of the Spirit in Christian 
experience is miraculous. 

7. Regeneration. We take it for granted that 
man is imperfect, that his imperfection is consti- 
tutional, that he is carnal, not spiritual, that his 
"carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, 
neither indeed can be," that he is in the state of 
death which belongs to the carnally-minded, and 
destitute of that life and peace which belong to 
the spiritually-minded. 1 In order, therefore, to 
attain unto perfection, he must be made a new 
creature, a work which can be accomplished only 
by the direct action of the Creator, working within 
him a regeneration; for "that which is born of the 
flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit, 
is spirit"; he "must be born again." That this 
regeneration is produced by immediate divine 
agency without the co-operation, or even the know- 
ledge of the recipient, is put beyond question by 
the illustration our Lord used, namely birth; and 

x How he came to be in this condition; whether it was by a 
fall from an estate of perfection, in which he was created; or 
by the failure of a divine idea to come into full realization, or 
by an obstructed and incompleted evolution; it is not pertinent 
to our investigation to inquire; but the fact is too patent and 
impressive to be denied. 



24 History of Religious Feeling 

by his words, "the wind bloweth where it listeth; 
thou nearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell 
whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth; so is every- 
one that is born of the Spirit. " x Like the breath- 
ing of the breath of life into the nostrils of the first 
man, it is a purely supernatural work, — a miracle, 
not dependent upon, or complicated with, any 
human agency or with the operation of any 
natural causes. 3 

The distinctive characteristics of the miracles 
of the second class, alleged to have been wrought 
in the soul, are: (i) that they are dependent on 
certain conditions which the person in whom 

x "Regeneration is an act of God. It is not an act, which, 
by argument and persuasion, or by moral power, he induces 
the sinner to perform. . . Regeneration, which (subjectively 
considered) is a change wrought in us and not an act performed 
by us. Raising Lazarus from the dead was an act of omnipo- 
tence. Nothing intervened between the volition and the 
effect. The act of quickening was the act of God. In that 
matter Lazarus was passive. But in the acts of the restored 
vitality, he was active and free. It is in this sense that regenera- 
tion is the act of God's almighty power. Nothing intervenes 
between the volition that the soul, spiritually dead, should 
live, and the desired effect. But in all that belongs to the con- 
sciousness; all that precedes or follows the imparting of this 
life; the soul, is active and is influenced by the truth, acting 
according to the laws of our mental constitution." — Systematic 
Theology, by Charles Hodge, D.D., iii., 31-32. 

•Regeneration in man is the bestowal of an increment to 
the life which the Creator has, from the beginning, imparted 
to his creatures. It is simply the continuation of that process 
of evolution by which life has advanced, from the simplest 
and lowest forms to the more complex and higher forms with 
which the earth now is filled. 



Regeneration the Soul's One Miracle 25 

they are wrought must provide; (2) that they 
are not solely the products of divine supernatural 
agency, but are, in part, the product of natural 
causes and of human agency; (3) that they always, 
and from the very beginning, come within the 
cognizance of the person in whom they are wrought, 
the presumption being that they have not taken 
place unless they are perceived and felt. There 
are but two alleged miracles of this class: 

1. The Religious Ecstasy, Rapture, or Trans- 
port. 
, 2. Conversion. 

We recognize the fact that God has ordained 
nature to be the theatre, and to furnish the condi- 
tions, for the physical development of all living 
things, that nature is to be the theatre and to 
furnish the conditions for the mental and moral 
development of man ; and that, for the accomplish- 
ment of both of these purposes, an order must be 
established in nature and maintained in uniform- 
ity. Yet we maintain that God, by whom "all 
things consist," is immanent in nature, "uphold- 
ing all things by the word of his power, " and that 
a miracle is always possible. Creation was a 
miracle, and the admission that God created the 
world takes away all rational ground from the 
dogma of the impossibility of miracles. To 
assume that the world came to its present condi- 
tion by an evolution which had no pre-existent 
force to start the movement, is to suppose an 



26 History of Religious Feeling 

effect without a cause ; a suspension of the law of 
inertia without an agency to make the suspension ; 
a miracle without a person to work it. We main- 
tain also that, in the execution of his scheme for 
the redemption of sinful man, a miraculous inter- 
position of his power is not only possible but 
probable. The blind turning of man toward God 
needs illumination; the new life imparted by 
regeneration needs development; all the moral 
powers in the nature of man need strengthening; 
and all his pure affections need quickening. For 
this purpose God revealed himself miraculously, 
at first by prophets, finally, and most fully, by 
his Son, the greatest of the prophets. These 
miraculous manifestations were so far sufficient 
for the faith of mankind that now it is required 
that, "at the name of Jesus every knee should 
bow. . . and that every tongue should confess that 
Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father/ ' 
These facts, taken together with the law of par- 
simony, which forbids the hypothesis of miracle, 
when natural causes are adequate to the produc- 
tion of the result, are ground for an antecedent 
presumption against the supposition of any further 
miraculous manifestations. 

Without allowing any undue weight to this 
presumption, we shall now proceed to inquire into 
the reality of the two miracles which it is now 
alleged, are wrought in the human soul. 



Part II 

The Religious Ecstasy 



27 



CHAPTER I 
The Ecstasy in the Heathen World 

AS a first step in this part of our investigation 
we shall have to take account of the religious 
ecstasies in the heathen world for they have 
been quite as common, and have exhibited 
their peculiar phenomena quite as distinctly, 
in that world as in the Christian world. We 
shall need, therefore, to compare the heathen 
with the Christian experiences, in order to 
ascertain whether there are any differences 
great enough and specific enough to warrant 
the affirmation that the former have been pro- 
duced by natural causes and the latter by a 
supernatural agent. 

i. The Yoga. The Yoga, a division of the 
Sankya philosophy, which is probably the oldest 
system of Hindu philosophy, professed to be the 
means of attaining perfect present and eternal 
happiness. It prescribed eight steps to be taken 
in order to reach the beatific state: sitting firmly 
and without motion on a spot that is neither too 
high nor too low, forbearance, religious observance, 
29 



30 History of Religious Feeling 

postures, restraint of the senses, steadying of the 
mind, contemplation, and profound meditation. 
One of the postures required consisted in placing 
the left foot on the right thigh, and the right foot 
on the left thigh; and holding, with the right hand, 
the right great toe, and with the left hand, the left 
great toe, the hands coming from behind the back, 
and crossing each other; while the chin rested on 
the interclavicular space, and the sight was fixed 
on the tip of the nose. The seventh step, contem- 
plation, was the fixing of the mind on the one 
great object of knowledge, the Supreme Spirit, 
so as to exclude all other thoughts. The eighth 
step, profound meditation, was the perfect ab- 
sorption of thought in the one object of medi- 
tation, the Supreme Spirit. Following these 
steps, the susceptible seldom failed to reach 
the most exalted religious experience, union 
with, and absorption in, the deity. Often 
narcotic or exhilarating substances were used to 
hasten the entrance into the beatific state: es- 
pecially the juice of the soma, the moon plant. 
This was supposed to have given exhilaration 
to the gods themselves and was celebrated, in 
the Vedic hymns, as itself a god. One of the 
names of Indra was Somapa, soma-drinker. The 
worshipper who drank it was supposed to be 
divinely illuminated, made partaker of celestial 
joy, and of immortality. 

In one of the Vedic hymns, the worshippers say, 



Ecstasy in the Heathen World 31 

We 've quaffed the soma bright, 

And immortal grown, 
We 've entered into light, 

And all the gods have known; 
What mortal now can harm? 

Or foeman vex us more? 
Through thee, beyond alarm, 

Immortal God, we soar. 

2. The Ancient Oracles. The ancient Greeks 
believed that there was a capacity in the human 
soul to be affected directly by the action of the 
gods; rudimentary in the majority of men, but 
largely developed in a favored few. Even some 
of the sober-minded philosophers believed them- 
selves inspired. Socrates believed that he was 
subject to a divine leader whom he called his 
Demon. He said that, from his youth up, he 
had been cognizant of a voice, and that the power, 
from which this voice emanated, was the god, or 
the gods, the same gods who also speak by the 
oracles. 

The oracles delivered their message in a state of 
ecstasy or trance, in which it was supposed that 
the god acted immediately on their souls. The 
Pythia, at Delphi, the most celebrated oracle, 
was always a woman, and generally one of the 
ignorant rural population. She prepared herself 
for the divine communication by fasting and 
abstraction of the mind. In the temple was an 
opening in the earth, from which issued an intoxi- 



32 History of Religious Feeling 

eating vapor. Over this opening a tripod was 
erected, upon which the Pythia was mounted. 
After inhaling the vapor for a time she fell into a 
trance, and delivered the message, which the 
god was supposed to have impressed on her soul 
by supernatural action. 

There were sacred places, also, at which the 
applicant himself was expected to receive the 
divine communication. In these cases, he was 
required to go through a course of physical deple- 
tion by fasting, to lie on his back in the temple, 
and to fix his mind by contemplation, until sleep 
came, when his dream would be the communica- 
tion of the god to his soul. 

3. The Pythagoreans. There is reason to be- 
lieve that Pythagoras (b.c. 570) regarded the 
natural energy of the mind as insufficient for the 
attainment of the highest knowledge of the truth; 
and with that the attainment of the highest happi- 
ness. He held that this knowledge could be at- 
tained only in exalted states of feeling, in which 
direct communications were made to the soul by 
the divine spirit. There is reason to believe that 
he not only sought these exalted experiences, but 
that he resorted to the natural means of produc- 
ing them, and that he and his followers formed a 
religious, or a semi-religious, brotherhood. 

4. The Worship of Dionysus. We need not 
attempt to trace the worship of the Grecian 
Dionysus (the Roman Bacchus) to its origin; or 



Ecstasy in the Heathen World 33 

to give the particulars in which the several festi- 
vals celebrated in his honor differed from one 
another. We shall give only the general meaning 
of his worship with some of the exercises with 
which it was performed. 

Dionysus, according to the Grecian mythology, 
was the son of Semele and Zeus. He was the god 
of the fertilizing spring showers, and especially 
the god of the vine. He journeyed over the earth 
teaching men to cultivate the vine and to make 
wine. The festival in his honor, as the god of the 
vintage, was celebrated with an abandonment 
to mirth and hilarity, and with buffoonery, in 
which even the slaves were expected to join. 
After the vintage he was supposed to have been 
slain, and to lie dead under the winter frost. 
This supposition animated his worshippers with 
the gravest sentiments and led them to celebrate 
his worship even with bloody rites. The jolly 
and mirth-giving god becomes the terrible god 
who unseats the reason, and is now Zagreus. 

Zagreus, the son of Persephone by Zeus, her 
father, was killed by the Titans, who, after tearing 
the body to pieces, devoured it, leaving only the 
heart, which was carried to Zeus, and by him 
given to Semele, of whom Zagreus was born again 
as Dionysus. 

One form of the worship was restricted to 
women, who, in celebrating it, met in the winter 
among the hills, clad in fawn skins and with their 



34 History of Religious Feeling 

hair dishevelled, swung the thyrsus, the symbol 
of the wine-god, beat the cymbals, and danced 
till they worked themselves into the highest state 
of religious frenzy. The holiest rites took place 
at night by the light of torches, in which the 
frenzied women slew a bull, tore him in pieces 
with their teeth, and ate the raw flesh, as Zagreus 
had been torn and eaten by the Titans and then 
sought, in mourning, for the dead god. It was 
to these frantic excitements and violent demon- 
strations, upon which men were not allowed to 
intrude, the name " orgies" was first given. 

5. Cybele. The mother of the gods had the 
Curetes, Corybantes, and Dactyls, as her priests 
and attendants, inferior deities or demons, who 
are said to have worshipped her with wild orgiastic 
dances and music, and who were themselves 
worshipped by men, in the same manner. The 
votaries of Cybele worshipped her with a sacred 
madness, during which the soul was surrendered 
to the control of the deity, and was endowed with 
a sense of power, and with preternatural strength. 

6. Demeter. The Roman Ceres was the 
daughter of Kronos and his sister Rhea, who was 
the sister of Zeus. She was the goddess of the 
cornfield, who taught and induced men to culti- 
vate grain. Her daughter Persephone, of whom 
her brother Zeus was the father, while gathering 
flowers in a meadow was carried off by Hades, 
the god of the underworld, to be his wife. The 



Ecstasy in the Heathen World 35 

mother, inconsolable at the loss, wandered for 
nine days and nights, with torches in her hand, 
searching for her daughter, till at length Helios 
revealed to her the rape, which had been instigated 
by Zeus. Inflamed with anger, she renounced 
Zeus and the society of Olympus. She wandered 
on the earth, grieving and fasting, until she came to 
Eleusis, where she was received by Keleos, the 
king, as the nurse for his new-born son Demo- 
phoon. Offended by the interference with her 
plan to give the youth exemption from old age 
and death, she caused her wan and aged look to 
disappear and standing in the majesty of her 
divine form, she diffused a dazzling brightness 
through the whole house, and said: "I am the 
exalted Demeter, the charm and comfort of both 
gods and men. Let the people of Eleusis erect, 
for me, a temple and an altar on yonder hill, above 
the fountain, and I will prescribe to them the 
orgies they must religiously observe, in order 
to propitiate my favor." 

The temple was erected, and Demeter took up 
her abode therein, still pining with grief for the 
loss of her daughter. For a whole year she suf- 
fered not a grain that was sown to grow; and the 
whole human race would have perished, had not 
Zeus, in alarm, sent Hermes to Hades to bring 
Persephone back. The mother received her 
daughter with transports of joy, and lifted the 
ban she had placed upon the earth. The seed 



36 History of Religious Feeling 

sown now came up and produced abundance, and 
the earth was covered with fruits and flowers. 
She now consented to go back and dwell with the 
gods on Olympus; but before her departure, she 
taught Keleos and his daughters, with Triptole- 
mus, Diokles, and Eumolpeus, the divine service, 
and all the solemnities which she required to be 
observed in her honor. Thus began the mysteries 
of Eleusis; the less, celebrated in February, in 
honor of Persephone; the greater, in August, in 
honor of Demeter herself. 

7. The Eleusinian Mysteries. The mysteries, 
originally celebrated at Eleusis, in Attica, in 
honor of Demeter, came to be celebrated through- 
out Greece, and, in time, attained to an almost 
catholic supremacy. When the local govern- 
ments were concentrated at Athens, that city 
became the centre of religion; a temple called the 
Eleusinian was erected therein as the national 
sanctuary of Demeter. The temple at Eleusis, 
however, retained its sacredness; and there the 
most solemn rites were performed. At first, only 
inhabitants of Attica were admitted to member- 
ship ; afterwards, the privilege was extended to all 
Greeks. 

These mysteries, in their aim, their spirit, and 
form of culture, bore more striking likeness to the 
Christian church than any other heathen institu- 
tion. Their members were a brotherhood, whose 
object was the cultivation of all goodness, in the 



Ecstasy in the Heathen World 37 

present life ; and of the hope of blessedness, in the 
life to come. They required, as a condition of 
membership, a consciousness of a direct divine 
action on the soul, and the experience of exalted 
religious feeling. The rites of initiation, it was 
believed, established a kinship of the soul with 
the divine nature, secured the divine favor, and 
introduced the person into a state of bliss. 

Objection was made to the Orphic mysteries, 
that they promised salvation, in return for the 
mere observance of ritualistic acts. The Eleusin- 
ian mysteries were held to be superior, in that they 
promised salvation only to those who had the 
high-wrought experiences of initiation and who 
also lived a pious and just life. 

The prescribed order of preparation and the 
mode of initiation : nine days* fasting and wander- 
ing around the shores, and on the plain of Eleusis 
in the night and in the dark of the moon, with 
torch in hand, searching for the lost goddess; the 
eager expectancy of the divine action on the soul ; 
the sudden entrance, at the end of the nine days 
into the holy building, which was illuminated to a 
dazzling brightness ; and the impressiveness of the 
magnificent ritual, which portrayed the life and 
glory of the deities by whom the mysteries were 
instituted brought the initiated to the highest 
pitch of divine rapture. There were various de- 
grees of advancement, each having its own pecul- 
iar secrets and experiences. The candidate was 



38 History of Religious Feeling 

initiated into the lesser mysteries at Athens in 
February ; but, in order to enjoy full membership, 
he must undergo a second initiation in the follow- 
ing September; and before he could be initiated 
into the higher degree, a year must pass from that 
date. Those who held office must have an initia- 
tion into a still higher degree, be possessed of 
still higher secrets, and pass through a higher 
experience. 

8. Neo-Platonism. The Neo-Platonists held 
that knowledge and virtue were God's gifts, and 
are to be obtained only by self-abnegation on the 
part of man; that the sage may, when completely 
renouncing himself and resigning himself un- 
resistingly to the divine influence, attain to the 
intuition of God, which is the highest step in 
philosophy. The business of man is to return to 
God, from whom he, as a sensuous being, has 
estranged himself. The means by which this re- 
turn is to be accomplished are virtue, philosophic 
thought, and, above all, the immediate ecstatic 
intuition of God, and becoming one with him. 

Plotinus, the most eminent of the Neo-Platon- 
ists, taught that, by nature's endowment, there 
are three grades of men. Men of the first grade 
are buried in the sensuous, regarding pleasure as 
the only good and pain as the only evil. Those 
of the second grade rise higher, but unable to 
discern that which is above them, become only 
virtuous, devote themselves to practical life, 



Ecstasy in the Heathen World 39 

aiming merely to make a right choice from among 
those things which are of inferior rank. Men of 
the third grade are of divine nature; gifted with 
higher power and keener vision, they turn toward 
the radiance which shines from above, rise into 
its presence and, despising all that is of earth, 
sojourn there, where is their true fatherland and 
where they become partakers of the true joy. 
The last, the highest end for man, is ecstatic 
elevation to the One truly good. When we look 
upon God we have reached our end and found 
our true rest; all disharmony is removed; we 
circle about God, in the movements of a divinely 
inspired dance, and behold him, the source of life, 
the principle of being, the cause of all good, the 
source and principle of the soul, and we enjoy 
perfect blessedness. Yet, this is not a beholding 
but only another manner of knowing; it is ecstasy, 
simplification, contact with God. 

Not always are we able to abide in this blessed 
state, as we are not yet completely loosed from the 
bonds of the earthly. It is only too easy for the 
earthly to win back our regards; and only rarely 
does the direct vision of the supreme God fall 
to the lot of the best of men. Porphyry, the 
disciple of Plotinus, tells us that his master at- 
tained to this unification with God only four times 
during the six years of his association with him. 

Porphyry differed from his master in holding 
that, in the ecstatic elevation and union with the 



40 History of Religious Feeling 

divine, the mind does not lose the consciousness 
of personality. The ecstasy is only a dream in 
which the soul, dead to the world, rises to a partici- 
pation in the divine. It is an elevation above 
action, above liberty, and yet not an annihilation : 
it is an ennobling, restoration, or transformation 
of the individual nature. 

In the treatise entitled Iamblicus de Mysteriis, 
which though not written by Iamblicus is supposed 
to have been written by one of his disciples, under 
his direction, the writer says: 

The pomp of emperors becomes as nothing, in 
comparison with the glory that surrounds the hiero- 
phant. The priest is a prophet, full of deity; the 
subordinate powers of the upper world are at his bid- 
ding, for it is not a man, but a god, who speaks the 
word of power. Such a man lives no longer the life 
common to other men; he has exchanged the human 
life for the life divine; his nature is the instrument 
and vehicle of the deity, who fills and impels him. 
Men of this order do not employ, in the elevation 
they experience, the waking senses, as do others: 
they have no purpose of their own, no mastery over 
themselves; they speak wisdom which they do not 
understand ; and their faculties, absorbed in a divine 
power, become the instruments of a superior will. 
Often, at the moment of inspiration, or when the af- 
flatus has subsided, a fiery appearance is seen, which is 
caused by the entering or departing power; and those 
who are skilled in this wisdom can tell, by the char- 
acter of this glory, the rank of the divinity who has 



Ecstasy in the Heathen World 41 

seized the reins of the mystic's soul and is guiding 
it at his will. Sometimes the body of the man, sub- 
ject to this influence, is violently agitated; sometimes 
it is rigid and motionless. In some instances, sweet 
music is heard; in others, discordant and fearful 
sounds. The person of the subject has been known 
to dilate, and tower to a superhuman height; and 
sometimes, to be lifted up in the air. Frequently, 
not merely the ordinary exercises of reason, but sensa- 
tion and animal life appear to have been suspended; 
the subject has not felt the application of fire: he has 
been pierced with spits and cut with knives, and has 
felt no pain. Yea, the more the body and the mind 
have been enfeebled by vigils and fasts; the more 
ignorant and mentally imbecile a youth may be who 
is brought under this influence, the more freely and 
unmixedly would the divine power be made manifest. 
So clearly are these wonders the work, not of human 
skill or wisdom, but of supernatural power. 

9. Sufism. The Sufis, among the Moham- 
medans, made it the greatest aim of their lives 
to attain an ecstatic state, in which the soul enters 
the world of dreams, and becomes one with God. 

Four stages were prescribed, for the ascent to 
that state. 1. Strict obedience to the ritual 
laws of Mohammedanism, prayer, fasting, pil- 
grimage, alms, and ablution. 2. Rising above 
the outward ceremony to a nearer approach to 
the deity. 3. By continuous contemplation and 
devotion, rising to the true perception of the vis- 
ible and the invisible; recognizing the God-head, 



42 History of Religious Feeling 

and holding an ecstatic relation to it. 4. The 
highest stage, in which man communicates directly 
with the deity. The means employed by some to 
reach the ecstatic state are rapid repetitions of the 
principal attributes of God. "No God but Allah : 
O God; O him; O just God; O living God; O 
revenging God"; the chant becoming louder and 
more violent, as it goes on. Then all stand in a 
circle, and each devotee, standing on his right 
foot, sways his left leg and his whole body back- 
ward and forward, or from side to side. Then 
begins the pirouette, on the left heel, the eyes 
being closed and the arms outstretched, when the 
attraction of God begins to operate, and the final 
ecstasy comes on. 

10. The Medicine of the American Indian. 
Mr. Francis Parkman tells us that it is in religious 
ecstasy the American Indian finds the object 
which is to be his " medicine, " or the charm of his 
life. 

At the age of fourteen or fifteen the Indian boy 
blackens his face, retires to some solitary place, and re- 
mains for days without food. Superstitious expect- 
ancy, and the exhaustion of abstinence, rarely fail of 
their results. His sleep is haunted with visions, and 
the form which first, or most often appears, is that 
of his guardian Manitou; a beast, a bird, a fish, a 
serpent, or some other object, animate or inanimate. 
The young Indian henceforth wears about his person 
the object revealed in his dream, or some portion 



Ecstasy in the Heathen World 43 

of it, as a bone, a feather, a snake skin, or a tuft of 
hair. This, in the modern language of the forest or 
prairie, is known as his medicine. The Indian yields 
to it a sort of worship; propitiates it with offerings 
of tobacco; thanks it in prosperity; and upbraids it 
in disaster. 1 

Similar customs have prevailed among all the 
Indian tribes; and all have employed the dance 
to produce the ecstatic state. 

1 The Jesuit in North America, pp. lxx., lxxi. 



CHAPTER II 
The Ecstasy in the Christian World 

IT would have been remarkable if mental and 
spiritual phenomena, similar to those we have 
seen in the heathen world, had not appeared in the 
Christian world. I. In the man Christ Jesus, 
God, the creator, came into the closest relationship 
to man. The Son of God was filled with the 
divine spirit, by whom he was enabled to do many- 
wonderful works. 2. He had promised that the 
same spirit should be given to his disciples, 
enabling them also to work miracles. 3. After 
the day of Pentecost, in fulfilment of his promise 
he endued them with his Spirit, who wrought in 
them those wonderful phenomena, called "spirit- 
ual gifts." 4. The worldly condition of the 
early Christians would naturally drive them to 
seek the pleasures of life in the inner world. The 
deep corruption and the bitter hatred of both 
Jews and Romans, together with the expectation 
of the millennium as immanent, would naturally 
cause them to look with contempt on the pleas- 
ures, honors, and riches of the world, and to turn, 
44 



Ecstasy in the Christian World 45 

with zest, to the pleasures of religion. 5. They 
were acquainted with both the Eastern and the 
Western pagan mysticism ; and among them were 
doubtless persons who, before their conversion to 
Christianity, had experienced the ecstasies of the 
Jewish Essenes and Theraputae, or of the Grecian 
Eleusinians. 6. Observing all around them ex- 
altations of religious feeling, which were said to 
have been produced by the heathen gods, they 
would naturally be affected with a strong desire 
for such experiences in themselves, in order to 
show that their own religion was, in no respect, 
inferior to that of the pagan. It is remarkable, 
however, that, notwithstanding all these anteced- 
ent probabilities, the early Christians were a 
sober-minded people. The reason for their ex- 
emption from enthusiasm may be found in the 
fact that the founder of their religion was so 
eminently practical. He was neither a dreamer 
nor an enthusiast. In this teaching and his works 
he dealt with the sublimest realities, but he did so 
in the calmest and most self-possessed manner, 
never in raptures, not even on the mount of 
transfiguration. They had the repeated and 
emphatic declaration of their Lord and his apos- 
tles, that their religion was more a matter of right 
living than of exalted feeling. Their Lord had 
expressly warned them against accepting the 
prevailing opinion, which counted the ecstasy 
to be an experience of the highest spiritual value. 



46 History of Religious Feeling 

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he 
that doeth the will of my Father which is in 
heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, 
Jjord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? 
and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy 
name done many wonderful works? And then 
will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart 
from me ye that work iniquity." When the 
members of the church of Corinth coveted the 
spiritual gifts, for the pleasure, or for the distinc- 
tion, to be derived from them, and were making 
those gifts the occasion of jealousy, contention, 
and disorder, the apostle Paul exhorted them to 
covet earnestly the best of all spiritual gifts, love, 
which was better than the gift of tongues, or 
of prophecy, or of faith that could remove moun- 
tains. Peter's exhortation to the brethren was: 
"Having your conversation honest among the 
gentiles, that, whereas they speak against you as 
evil-doers, they may, by your good works which 
they shall behold, glorify God, in the day of 
visitation — for so is the will of God that, with 
well-doing, ye may put to silence the ignorance 
of foolish men." 

That these declarations and exhortations had 
effect, there can be no doubt; for it appears 
plainly in the history of the church that the 
early Christians impressed the un-Christian world 
more by their right living and their love to one 



Ecstasy in the Christian World 47 

another than by the raptures of their religious 
feeling. 

Early in the second century, the Gnostics, 
Christian believers, who had been devoted to the 
Platonic philosophy, claimed to have the power 
of knowing God and divine things by direct 
cognition, but they were not enthusiasts. Their 
superior knowledge they professed to have ob- 
tained by means of superior natural powers, not 
by any supernatural work within them. 

It was not till after the middle of the second 
century that we find any rapturous experiences 
attributed to the immediate action of the Holy 
Spirit; but, from that time on to the present day, 
the Christian church has exhibited an abundance 
of phenomena similar to those we have seen 
abounding in the heathen world. 

Montanism. We meet these phenomena first 
among the Phrygians, a people who had been 
noted for their mercurial temperament and their 
strong emotional nature. Their national religion, 
the worship of Cybele and Bacchus, was a religion 
of frenzies and ecstasies. Two causes, the one 
general, and the other special, may have contri- 
buted to the development of enthusiasm among 
the Phrygian Christians: 

1. That dreadful plague which swept over 
the Roman Empire in the middle of the second 
century was interpreted by the heathen as an 
infliction for the dishonor the gods were suffering 



48 History of Religious Feeling 

from the prevalence of the new religion, and every- 
where the terror of the heathen populace, being 
converted into fury, vented itself on the Christians. 
The peculiarities of the national character caused 
the persecutions in Phrygia to be especially un- 
relenting and bloody; and this, together with 
the expectation of the instant coming of Christ, 
caused the enthusiasm of the Christians to rise 
to the highest pitch. 

2. This rise of enthusiasm was one of the 
natural reactions which have characterized the 
history of Christianity in all ages. The imper- 
fection belonging to human nature is sure to 
corrupt every phase of the Christian life. On 
the one hand, the staid and intellectual, the lovers 
of truth, will become cold-hearted and haughty 
formalists, faultless in ritual, sound in doctrine, 
but unscrupulous and loose in life. This will 
provoke a reaction, in which the importance 
of doctrine and form r will be depreciated, while 
warmth of heart and fervor of spirit will be 
exalted. It is probable that the enthusiasm 
of the second century was a reaction from the 
coldness, deadness, and corruption of Gnosticism 
or orthodoxy. 

It was about the year 157 a.d. that Montanus 
appeared as a reformer of the church and an 
exemplar of the fervid type of Christian life. 
He fell into certain states of transport, in which 
he was no longer master of his own consciousness, 



Ecstasy in the Christian World 49 

and was made, as he supposed, the organ of a 
supermundane spirit. In this state he foretold 
the approach of new persecutions and exhorted 
the Christians to lead a life of more rigid aus- 
terity, and to make a more undaunted confession 
of their faith; he extolled the martyr's crown, 
and charged the faithful to stake everything, 
in order to win that crown. Claiming to be a 
prophet sent of God, he announced the nearness 
of Christ's second coming and the approach of 
the millennial reign. He declared that by himself 
the church was to be elevated to a higher stage 
of spiritual life, and that through him a loftier 
system of Christian morals was to be revealed. 
He claimed that the things which Christ said 
that the apostles were not able to receive, were 
now revealed to him. He held that, in the re- 
ligious ecstasy, Christian prophets and prophet- 
esses received revelations which were to conduct 
the church onward to its final consummation, 
that the Almighty took possession of the soul 
of the prophet and spoke to it in his own name. 
He alleges that, in one of his own ecstatic states 
God said through him, " Behold the man is a 
lyre, and I sweep over him, as a plectrum; the 
man sleeps and I wake. Behold, it is the Lord, 
who estranges the souls of men from themselves, 
and gives them souls." He alleges that, at 
another time, God said through him, "I am the 
Lord, the Almighty God, who take up my abode 



50 History of Religious Feeling 

in man. I am neither an angel nor a messenger, 
but I am come, as the Lord himself, God the 
Father." 

So new and strange were these phenomena in 
the church that many Christians questioned 
their genuineness, on the ground that the Spirit, 
in making revelations, would not set men beside 
themselves. The Christian rhetorician Militi- 
ades wrote a work to show that the ecstasy was 
a state of mind at variance with the character 
of a true prophet. Some were inclined to attri- 
bute the ecstasy to the agency of evil spirits, 
maintaining that the Holy Spirit is a spirit of 
soberness and self-possession. Clement of Alex- 
andria represented the ecstasy as the sign of a 
false prophet and of actuation by the evil spirit. 
He was unwilling, however, to deny that there 
was anything of an ecstatic nature in the prophets 
of the Old Testament, and unwilling also to 
condemn everything that proceeded from the 
so-called Christian prophets. The prevalence 
and strength of the opposition of the church to 
these experiences may be inferred from a pur- 
ported divine communication to one of the 
Phrygian prophetesses, Maximilla. In this com- 
munication, the spirit, in her, vindicating him- 
self from the charge that he set men beside 
themselves, said: "I am chased, as a wolf from 
the flock. I am no wolf; I am word, and spirit, 
and power." 



Ecstasy in the Christian World 51 

Montanism, taking its rise in Phrygia, spread, 
like an epidemic, throughout Macedonia and 
Greece to Rome, and even beyond into Spain 
and Gaul; yet it did not affect, in any place, 
more than a small proportion of the members 
of the church. As it gained strength it became 
arrogant, and set itself up as the highest type 
of Christian life. It availed itself of the dis- 
tinction between the Greek words for spirit and 
soul, the one designating the higher faculties 
which are the peculiar endowment of man; the, 
other, designating the powers of the animal life, 
the senses, appetites, and passions which man 
has in common with the lower animals. It 
won over one of the great fathers, Tertullian 
of Carthage, who wrote an able defence of it. 
The more sober views of the spiritual life were 
so predominant, however, that Montanism be- 
came almost extinct at the close of the fourth 
century. 

A sign was most rigidly required, in Old Testa- 
ment times, as an attestation of the inspiration 
of the prophet of the Lord. Neither his own 
claim, nor his exalted feelings, nor even the 
fulfilment of his prophecies, was sufficient for 
this purpose. 1 

'Upon this subject, John David Michaelis says: "It was at 
that time the universal propensity of mankind to pry into future 
events; and it was no less universal to regard religion as a means 
of gratifying this curiosity. If God, therefore, desired efficiently 
to keep his people from being carried away by the torrent that 



52 History of Religious Feeling 

It is to be remembered that the Old Testament 
prophets gave their prophetic utterances, for 
the most part, in an exalted state of religious 
feeling, like that of the heathen and Christian 
rapture, and that they did not allege that the 
feeling was itself evidence of supernatural origin. 
They either gave, or were ready to give, the 
required proofs of such origin in miracles wrought 
or predictions fulfilled. The ecstasies of the 
priests of Baal were probably quite as genuine 
as those of Elijah; but Elijah required them to 
give the proofs of inspiration, which he himself 

overflowed other nations, and from seeking insight into fu- 
turity from superstition or false religion, it was necessary that 
the true religion should give them what every false religion 
pretended to give." — Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, 
i., 197, 198. 

"Now all these vain arts, in order to pry into the future and 
all divinations whatever, unless where God was consulted by 
prophet or by Urim and Thummin (the sacred lot, kept by the 
High Priest) were expressly prohibited by the statutes of Lev. 
xix., 26, 31; xx., 6, 23, 27; Deut. xviii., 9-12." — Ibid., iv., 84. 

"There were two cases, in which a person was held as con- 
victed of this crime, and of course liable to its punishment. 
I. If he had prophesied anything in the name of any other 
god, whether it took place or not; he was, at all events, considered 
as a false prophet, and, as such, stoned to death. Deut. xiii., 
2-6. If a prophet spake in the name of the true God, he en- 
joyed, so long as he remained unconvicted of any imposture, 
those rights which were stated under Art. xxxvi., and which 
were founded in the constitution of the Israelitish polity, and 
he could not be punished; but when the event, which he pre- 
dicted, did not come to pass, he was regarded as an audacious 
impostor, and, as such, stoned. Deut. xviii., 21, 22." — Ibid., 
iv., 71-72. 



Ecstasy in the Christian World 53 

was required to give, and under the same sanc- 
tions; that is, proof by special miracle, and under 
the sanction of the death penalty. He inflicted 
on them only the penalty which he himself would 
have had to suffer, in case of his failure. Our 
Lord promised his disciples that their possession 
of supernatural gifts should be so accredited. 
"And these signs shall follow them that believe. 
In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall 
speak with new tongues; they shall take up 
serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it 
shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the 
sick and they shall recover." 1 

We conclude that unless the alleged super- 
naturally wrought experiences in the Christian 
world present something more than their own 
extraordinary character, some indubitable signs 
of their supernatural origin, we shall be com- 
pelled to refer them, as we do the like experiences 
in the heathen world, to natural causes. 

x Mark xvi., 18. 



Part III 
Conversion 



55 



CHAPTER I 
What is Conversion? 

MYSTICAL experiences are believed by the 
Christian world to occur in the Christian 
life, already begun; conversion is a similar ex- 
perience in which the spiritual life is supposed 
to begin. It is held that none but the converted 
can be accepted as having undergone the change 
from spiritual death to spiritual life. Questions 
relating to conversion are, therefore, of far more 
importance than questions relating to the re- 
ligious ecstasy of the mystic. We shall need, 
as a first step in our consideration of these ques- 
tions, to obtain a definite idea of what conversion 
is held to be. 

The definition of conversion given by the Rev. 
Enoch Pond, D.D., in his treatise on conversion 
we shall accept, as sufficiently precise and com- 
prehensive. 

Conversion is the first active turning of the souVs 
affection unto God. It is the commencement of holy 
affections in the sinner's heart. Up to this time, 
57 



58 History of Religious Feeling 

his heart has been entirely sinful. It has been wholly 
under the influence of self and the world, so that 
holy affections have been entirely excluded; they 
have had no place there. But in the moment of 
conversion, under the influence of appropriate 
thought and of the Holy Spirit, the first holy exercise 
or affection is put forth. . . . Holy affections 
assume different forms, and have different names 
applied to them, according as they are put forth 
in view of different objects; but whatever name or 
form, they all possess the same general nature or 
character. Thus, the same kind of affection, which, 
in view of the divine character, is holy, complacent 
love, will, in view of personal transgression, be re- 
pentance; in view of Christ as a Saviour, it will be 
faith or trust; in view of the divine favors, it will be 
gratitude; and, in view of the divine government, it 
will be submission. . . . Nor is conversion a change 
of any kind, in which the subject of it is entirely 
passive, and for which he can do nothing but wait. 
Most unconverted persons seem to regard the ques- 
tion in this light: they regard it as something 
in reference to which they have no responsibility, 
have nothing to do, and for which they can do 
nothing but submissively wait until the blessing 
is bestowed. Now, there can hardly be a greater 
mistake than this, or one of more disastrous in- 
fluence. The effect of such an impression can only 
be to excuse and quiet the soul in sin, and put off 
that great and needed change without which we 
perish. . . . 

Conversion is important, Thirdly, as it is the only 
way to secure the approbation and favor of the Su- 



What is Conversion ? 59 

preme Being. ... I urge Fourthly, the importance 
of conversion, from the consideration that it saves 
from eternal death. But conversion does more than 
save from death. I urge Fifthly, that it secures 
life; immortal life and bliss to the soul. It intro- 
duces those who experience it into the family of 
God. It makes them heirs of all the promises. 
When they appear in the other worlds, they shall 
go to dwell with Christ, with the holy angels, and 
with the redeemed in the paradise of God above. 
. . . They are to have their eternal dwelling amid 
the glories of the heavenly state. 1 

Turning from this definition of conversion 
and the statement of its importance to the New 
Testament for authoritative information on the 
subject, we find that the word does not occur 
there in the sense here given, and that our Lord 
in all his teaching does not give this, or any 
other definition of conversion or any statement 
of its importance. In only one instance does 
he seem to imply that conversion is a necessary 
condition of entrance into the kingdom of heaven. 
" Verily, I say unto you, Except ye be converted 
and become as little children ye shall not enter 
into the kingdom of heaven." 2 Here, however, 
the word rendered, be converted, is in the active, 
not in the passive voice, and must be rendered, 
"Except ye turn and become as little children 

1 Conversion; Its Nature and Importance, 6-9, 169, 172. 

3 Matt, xviii., 3. 



60 History of Religious Feeling 

..." The same word is used by our Lord and 
by the apostle Paul in quoting Isaiah vi., 10: 
"This people's heart is waxed gross and their 
ears dull of hearing lest at any time they . . . 
should understand with their heart and should 
be converted and I should heal them." 1 In all 
these cases, and also in Isaiah, the word is in 
the active voice and means turn, or turn again, 
and is so rendered in the revised version. 

It is so rendered in Acts iii., 19. "Repent ye 
therefore and be converted that your sins may 
be blotted out, " and, in this case, the word means 
change of conduct only, since the word translated 
repent means change of mind. The same word 
is used in Luke i., 16, 17: "And many of the 
children of Israel shall he turn unto the Lord 
and he shall go before him, in the spirit and power 
of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the 
children"; in xvii., 4: "If he trespass against 
thee seven times in a day and seven times in a 
day turn again to thee saying, I repent, thou shalt 
forgive him"; in Acts xi., 21: "And the hand of 
the Lord was with them, and a great number 
believed and turned unto the Lord"; and in 
Gal. iv., 9, "How turn ye again to the weak 
and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire 
again to be in bondage." In all these cases the 
word is in the active voice, as it is in Matt, xviii., 
3, and is proof conclusive that there it should 

1 Matt, xiii., 15. Mark iv., 12. Acts xxviii., 27. 



What is Conversion ? 61 

be rendered turn or turn again, and not, be con- 
verted. Nowhere in the New Testament has 
the word conversion the sense now given to it; 
nowhere is its importance set forth in any such 
statement as that given in the work from which 
we have quoted. From that work it appears that 
the Holy Spirit is a necessary agent in effecting 
a true conversion, but not the sole agent, nor 
even the primal agent; he must wait till the 
subject himself begins to act. Human agency 
and natural causes operate efficiently in connec- 
tion with the divine agency, in the production 
of a conversion that is genuine, gracious, and 
saving. Now every one must see that it is a 
matter of great, nay of vital, importance that 
the natural and supernatural factors in conver- 
sion should be ascertained with at least proximate 
certainty; for it is the presence of the supernatural 
factor that determines the present spiritual 
state of the individual and his eternal destiny. 

It is admitted by evangelical Christians that 
there are conversions which are not genuine, 
gracious, and saving, and yet are so like to the 
genuine as to be indistinguishable from them. 
Both the subjects of them and others may mistake 
the one kind for the other. The question of 
genuineness is a vital question, and the answer 
depends wholly upon the answer to the question, 
whether the supernatural agency was present or 
absent; if present, the conversion was genuine 



62 History of Religious Feeling 

and saving, no matter what may have been the 
decline in the ardor of the affection or the defec- 
tion in the life; if absent, the conversion was 
spurious, not saving, no matter what may have 
been the state of the man's feeling at the time; 
he was deceived ; he has had a name to live while 
he was dead, and he may finally perish. 

If we should concede the reality of the imme- 
diate or miraculous divine agency in conversion, 
then since the action of that agency is dependent 
upon, and complicated with, human agency 
and the operation of natural causes, it is of the 
utmost importance that the action of the divine 
agency should be recognized with certainty; 
for it is that alone gives to conversion its saving 
character. 



CHAPTER II 
The Divine Agency in Conversion 

IT is reasonable to suppose that the divine 
agency in conversion would be manifested 
by marks so distinct and uniform that it could 
not be mistaken, and, therefore, that there could 
not be any great differences of opinion in the 
Christian world on the subject. We find there, 
however, very great differences of opinion; not 
only differences, but glaring inconsistencies. Those 
who hold that conversion is necessary to make 
a man a Christian, and that it is supernaturally 
produced, acknowledge, as true Christians, men 
in whose lives they admit that all the fruits of 
the Spirit abound, but who say that they have 
never known any experience which they recog- 
nize as marking their transition from death into 
life. 

Not only are such individuals recognized as 
Christians, but whole denominations, who deny 
the alleged import of the experience, deny its 
supernatural origin, and avow that they never 
had it, are so recognized; their ordination and 
63 



64 History of Religious Feeling 

their ordinances are regarded as valid; their 
acts of discipline are respected; letters of dis- 
mission from them are accepted; and there is 
co-operation with them in general Christian 
work. 

The uncertainty and the diversity of opinion 
on this subject appear also in the controversies 
which have been waged thereon. At an early 
day in New England, a question arose in the 
churches about the rights and privileges of adults 
who had been baptized in infancy, but had de- 
clined to become communicants, for the reason 
that they had not passed through that experience 
which the church, and they themselves, believed 
to be necessary to make a man a Christian; 
who yet desired to have their children baptized. 
The granting of the privilege depended on the 
question whether they were members of the 
church or not; for if members, they were entitled 
to the privilege. Some contended that they were 
made members and were recognized as such by 
their baptism in infancy; and that, as the church 
had not taken any action casting them out, they 
were still members. The question, however, was 
beset with some practical difficulties. Some of 
those who were requesting the privilege were 
profane in their conversation and ungodly in 
their lives. Some members of the church held 
that, even if this were so, the request ought to 
be granted, as the children were a party in interest. 



The Divine Agency in Conversion 65 

Others held that the baptism of these persons 
made them members of the church universal, 
but not members of any particular church, and 
that the particular church could not recognize 
them as having any rights or privileges therein. 

The Congregational Synod, at Boston, in 
1662, gave the following decision on the subject: 

1. They that, according to the Scriptures, are 
members of the visible church, are subjects of 
baptism. 

2. The members of the visible church, accord- 
ing to the Scriptures, are confederate believers 
in particular churches and their infant seed; 
that is, children in minority whose parents, 
one or both, are in covenant. 

3. The infant seed of confederate visible 
believers are members of the same church with 
their parents; and when grown up, are personally 
under the watch, discipline, and government of 
the church. 

4. Those adult persons are not, therefore, to 
be admitted to full communion (the Lord's 
supper) because they are, and continue to be, 
without such further qualifications as the word 
of God requireth thereunto. 

5. Church members, who were admitted in 
minority, understanding the doctrine of faith, 
and publicly professing their assent thereto, 
not scandalous in life, and solemnly owning the 



66 History of Religious Feeling 

covenant before the church; wherein they give 
up themselves and their children to the Lord 
and subject themselves to the government of 
Christ in the church; their children are to be 
baptized. 

This, which was called "The Half-way Cove- 
nant/ ' maintained that persons, who had been 
baptized in infancy, on making a profession of 
faith and good intentions, which was still short 
of a profession of saving faith, were to have their 
children baptized. Some maintained that such 
a covenant and confession, which men who re- 
garded themselves as unconverted might sin- 
cerely make, entitled them to the Lord's supper, 
on the ground that the sacrament of the Lord's 
supper was not only an edifying, but also a 
converting, ordinance. This view was strenu- 
ously opposed by Jonathan Edwards, in a treatise 
published in 1746, in which he contended that: 
"none ought to be admitted to the communion 
and the privileges of members of the visible 
church of Christ, in complete standing, but such 
as are, in profession and in the eye of the church's 
Christian judgment, godly or gracious persons." 
His congregation at Northampton had been 
indoctrinated in the opposite view by the Rev. 
Solomon Stoddard, the maternal grandfather 
and immediate predecessor of Mr. Edwards, in 
the pastorate of the church; and this difference 



The Divine Agency in Conversion 67 

of opinion, between him and his people, resulted 
in a sundering of the pastoral relation in 1750. 

One of the controversies, which led to the 
division of the first Presbyterian Synod in America, 
and the formation of the Synods of Philadelphia 
and New York in 1741, was on the question: 
What evidence of faith and holiness ought the 
church to require of candidates for admission 
to the Lord's supper ; or what ought to be regarded 
as credible evidence of piety which, if presented 
by any who were duly qualified otherwise, should 
be regarded as entitling them to the privilege 
of the Lord's table. The ' ' New Side, ' ' represented 
by the Synod of New York, charged that the 
"Old Side," which was represented by the Synod 
of Philadelphia, held that the unregenerate and 
ungodly were entitled to the Lord's supper: 
while the "Old Side" charged the "New Side" 
with holding that none but the regenerate, and 
those who could be certainly known, and knew 
themselves to be such, were entitled to the 
privilege. The real difference was, that the 
"Old Side" were opposing that method of ex- 
amining candidates which proceeded on the 
assumption that the church can judge the heart, 
and determine who are, and who are not regener- 
ate ; the decision being based on certain experiences 
related by the applicant, which were supposed 
to have been supernaturally produced, and were 
judged to be evidences of the new birth. The 



68 History of Religious Feeling 

"New Side" insisted that those who were really- 
regenerate could, and should be required, to 
furnish such evidences of their new birth. The 
seventh specification, brought by the "Old Side" 
against the New at the meeting of the Synod in 
1 74 1, was: "their, or some of them, preaching 
and maintaining, that all true converts are as 
certain of their gracious state as a person can 
be of what he knows by his outward senses; 
and are able to give a narrative of the time and 
manner of their conversion; or else they conclude 
them to be in a natural or graceless state; and, 
that a gracious person can judge of another's 
gracious state, otherwise than by his profession 
and life." 

The warmest controversies on this subject 
have taken place after great revivals of religion, 
and in some cases, have called forth elaborate 
treatises — notably, that of Jonathan Edwards on 
The Affections, which was intended to set forth 
the difference between those experiences which 
have been supernaturally produced and those 
which have been produced by natural causes. 

After the great revival in Northampton, in 
the years 1 740-1 741, Mr. Edwards was induced 
to publish the Narrative of Surprising Conversions, 
to which were added five sermons: I. On Rom. 
iv., 5, Justification by Faith alone; 2. On Luke xvi., 
16, Pressing into the Kingdom; 3. On Ruth i., 16, 
Ruth's Resolution; 4. Rom. iii., 19, The Justice of 



The Divine Agency in Conversion 69 

God in the Damnation of Sinners; 5. Rev. v., 5, 6, 
The Excellency of Jesus Christ. The first four 
of these discourses were preached immediately 
before and during the awakening, and were among 
the probable causes of it, the last being selected 
by Mr. Edwards himself, partly, his biographer 
says, "because he thought that a discourse on 
such an evangelical subject, would properly fol- 
low others that were chiefly awakening ; and that 
something of the excellency of the Saviour was 
proper to succeed those things that were to show 
the necessity of salvation." 

The Narrative was republished in England, 
with an introduction by Isaac Watts and John 
Guyse; was extensively read, and produced a 
deep impression throughout England and Scot- 
land. The authors of the Introduction say: 

There is a spot of ground, as we are here informed, 
wherein there are twelve or fourteen towns and 
villages, chiefly situated in the country of Hampshire, 
near the banks of the River Connecticut, within 
the compass of thirty miles, wherein it pleased God, 
two years ago, to display his sovereign mercy, in 
the conversion of a great multitude of souls in a 
short space of time. . . . The great God has 
seemed to act over again the miracle of Gideon's 
fleece, which was plentifully watered with the dews 
of heaven, while the rest of the earth round about 
was dry, and had no such blessing. 1 

1 Works in two vols. London, 1834, i., 344. 



70 History of Religious Feeling 

Through the influence of this Narrative, a similar 
revival broke out in Cambuslang, the parish of 
the Rev. William McCulloch, four miles from 
Glasgow, and thence spread to upwards of thirty- 
towns and villages. In both cases, opposite 
opinions were held as to the character of the 
work, which resulted in controversies and in the 
division of churches. 

On the visit of the Rev. George Whitefield 
to Northampton, in the fall of 1740, we are told 
that Mr. Edwards 

took an opportunity to converse with Mr. Whitefield, 
alone, at some length, on the subject of impulses, 
and assigned the reason he had to think that he gave 
too much heed to such things. . . . He also took 
occasion, in the presence of others, to converse with 
Mr. Whitefield, at some length, about his too custom- 
ary practice of judging other persons to be uncon- 
verted; . . . and pronouncing ministers and other 
members of the Christian church unconverted. 

Mr. Edwards says, in the Narrative, that there 
were 

outcries, and falling down, and swooning, in the time 
of public and social worship ; and singing and praying 
in the streets. . . . These people went so far before 
them (the other members of the church) in raptures, 
and violent emotions of the affections, and in vehe- 
ment zeal for, what they called, boldness for Christ; 



The Divine Agency in Conversion 71 

our people were ready to think was owing to far 
greater attainments in grace and intimacy with heaven. 

Similar manifestations attended the revival in 
Scotland, and it appears that there also the 
spiritual value and the supernatural origin of 
the manifestations were questioned by the mod- 
erates in the church. It was this uncertainty 
as to the presence of the supernatural in the 
experience of conversion and the unseemly con- 
troversies on the subject that called forth Mr. 
Edwards's Treatise Concerning Religious Affec- 
tions, his Treatise Concerning the Qualifications 
Requisite to Complete Standing and Full Com- 
munion in the Visible Church, and his published 
reply to the Rev. Solomon Williams's book. 
In the preface to the first work, Mr. Edwards 
says: 

There is no question of greater importance to 
mankind, and that it more concerns every individual 
person to be well resolved in than this: What are 
the distinguishing qualifications of those that are 
in favor with God and entitled to his eternal reward? 
Or, which comes to the same thing: What is the 
nature of true religion; and wherein lie the dis- 
tinguishing notes of that virtue, which is acceptable 
in the sight of God? But, though it be of such 
importance, and though we have clear light in the 
Word of God to direct us in this matter, yet there 
is no one point wherein professing Christians differ 



72 History of Religious Feeling 

more one from another. ... It is by the mixture 
of counterfeit religion with true, not discerned and 
distinguished, that the devil has had his greatest 
advantage against the kingdom of Christ. . . . 
And, by what is seen of the terrible consequences 
of this counterfeit, when not distinguished from true 
religion, God's people in general have their minds 
unsettled in religion, and know not where to set 
their foot, or what to think; and many are brought 
into doubts whether there be any thing at all in 
religion; and heresy, infidelity, and atheism, greatly 
prevail. . . . What I am at now, is to show the 
nature and signs of the gracious operations of God's 
Spirit, by which they are to be distinguished from 
all things whatsoever, that are not of a saving 
nature. 1 

It has been, for a long time, the judgment of the 
Christian world, that the wonderfully acute and 
elaborate discriminations, in his three long treat- 
ises, have not succeeded in accomplishing what 
their author intended them to do ; that is, to draw 
a line of demarcation which no one could mistake, 
between the common and the gracious, the natural 
and the supernatural, in Christian experience. 
The failure of a mind so acute as that of 
Edwards to make the distinction, might well sug- 
gest the impossibility of making it. But, unless 
such distinction can be made, the supposition of 
miraculous agency cannot be sustained. The 

1 Work in two vols. London, 1834, i., 234-235. 



The Divine Agency in Conversion 73 

admission of inability to distinguish a supposed 
miraculous conversion of water into wine from 
the natural process — the absorption of water by 
the roots of the vine; the conveyance through the 
ducts to the cluster; the ripening of the fruit; 
— the pressing out and fermentation of the juice 
— is equivalent to an abandonment of the hypo- 
thesis of miraculous production. 



CHAPTER III 

The Variety of Means Employed and the 
Difference in Result 

THE variety in the means employed to produce 
conversion, and the difference in the result- 
ing experience, can hardly be regarded as according 
well with the assumption of supernatural agency; 
for it is to be presumed that all supernatural 
divine action to any one end will be alike in all 
cases, since it is absolutely unconditioned. The 
healing of the impotent man by our Lord, and his 
healing of the one who was born blind, may be 
supposed to have been works that differed in kind; 
but it is to be assumed that his healing of im- 
potent men would be a work of the same character 
in all cases, and so also would be his healing of all 
blind men. The variety of means employed to 
produce conversion at different times, and the 
differences in the resulting experiences, suggest a 
conditioning, which may well enough be supposed 
to affect the operation of a natural cause but not 
the operation of a supernatural cause. 

Theology. The interest of men in the science of 
74 



Means Vary and Results Differ 75 

theology has sprung, in large measure, from its 
bearing on the experience of conversion, and not, 
as in the sciences of nature, from a desire to see 
facts in their proper relations to one another 
and combined in an orderly and complete system 
of knowledge. Soteriology has been the central 
theme of theology, its principal object being to 
exhibit unto men the plan of salvation, with the 
hope that it will operate as a natural cause of the 
experience of conversion that experience being 
generally supposed to be necessary to salvation. 
Many theologians have undertaken, in special 
works, to employ the doctrine of theology for 
this purpose. 

We shall take the statements in a work entitled 
The Way of Life as an example of the employ- 
ment of the doctrines of theology as a means of 
producing conversion. 1 

1. There must be a knowledge of sin. 

The eyes must be opened to see sin as it is repre- 
sented in the word of God, as an exceeding evil and 
bitter thing, as extending, not merely to overt acts 
or outbreaks of passion, but deeply seated in the 
heart, polluting, at the fountain, the streams of life; 
as really deserving the punishment which God has 
denounced against it; and as having such hold upon 

1 The Way of Life, by Charles Hodge, Professor in the 
Theological Seminary, Princeton, N. J. American Sunday- 
School Union, p. 106. 



76 History of Religious Feeling 

the inward principles of our nature, that its power 
cannot be broken by any ordinary exertion. 

This knowledge of sin, which enters so essentially 
into the nature of true conviction, is derived from 
the law, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 
"I had not known sin," said the apostle, "but 
by the law." ... A thousand things which before 
had appeared indifferent or trivial, he now saw to 
be aggravated offences; and especially the deep- 
seated evil of his heart — the great source of all 
other sin. 1 

2. A sense of personal unworthiness. 

There is, in genuine conviction, a sense of personal 
unworthiness, . . . this personal sense of unworthi- 
ness is the principal part of conviction of sin. It is 
the opposite of that false notion of our own excellence, 
which we are so apt to indulge. It destroys our self- 
complacency and eradicates the disposition to justify 
ourselves or extenuate our guilt. Where this judg- 
ment of the conscience, or this sense of personal 
unworthiness exists, leading the sinner to lay his 
hand upon his mouth in the presence of God, and 
to bow at his feet as unworthy, undeserving of mercy, 
there, as far as this point is concerned, is genuine 
conviction. 2 

3. A conviction of our condemnation before 
God. 

1 The Way of Life, pp. 107-m. 
a Ibid., pp. 113-117. 



Means Vary and Results Differ 77 

A sense of sin is a sense of unworthiness and a 
sense of unworthiness involves a sense of just ex- 
posure to the divine displeasure. . . . When there 
is a clear discovery of the evil of sin, with no con- 
comitant apprehension of the true plan of salvation, 
despair is the natural result. The judgment of 
the conscience is known to be true when it pro- 
nounces our sins to be deserving of death. And 
unless the soul sees how God can be just and 
yet justify the sinner, it cannot hope for mercy. 
Nothing can be more pitiable than a soul in this 
condition. 1 

4. Insufficiency of works. 

Another essential characteristic of genuine con- 
viction is the persuasion that our own good 
works are entirely insufficient to recommend us to 
God, or to be the ground of our acceptance before 
him. . . . The distressed soul imagines that if it 
could be more distressed, more humbled, more 
touched with sorrow or remorse, it then might find 
acceptance. . . . But this hardness of heart, this 
want of due tenderness and penitence, is a sin which 
must first be got out of the way, before the others 
can be remitted. ... It is included in what has 
been said that a consciousness of our own weakness 
is a necessary ingredient, or consequent of true con- 
viction. There is not only a giving up of our own 
righteousness, but of our own strength. 2 

1 The Way of Life, pp. 1 19-12 1. 

2 Ibid., pp. 123-129. 



78 History of Religious Feeling 

5. Repentance. 

As the consciousness of unworthiness, when we 
think of others, produces shame, so when we think 
of ourselves, it produces self-abhorrence. . . . The 
soul bows down before God under the conscious- 
ness of inexcusable guilt. It stands self -condemned, 
and, instead of regarding God as a hard master, 
it acknowledges that he is righteous in all his 
demands, and in all his judgments. . . . The 
confession of sin, on which the Scriptures lay 
so much stress, is the outward expression of 
this inward sense of ill-desert. It is not enough 
that we should secretly condemn ourselves. God 
requires a full and ingenuous confession of our 
sins. . . . There is a gleam of hope and glow 
of love pervading the exercises of the true pen- 
itent, which impart to all his exercises a peculi- 
arity of character, and cause them to produce 
effects specifically different from those which flow 
from despairing remorse, or the agitations of an 
awakened conscience. . . . The one is the sorrow 
of the malefactor; the other the sorrow of a child. 
. . . The penitent may not know how God can 
be just and yet the justifier of sinners, and yet 
be persuaded not only that he is merciful, but that 
he has found a ransom and can consistently save us 
from going down into the pit. . . . That repentance, 
therefore, which is unto life, is a turning; not a being 
driven away from sin by fear and stress of conscience 
but a forsaking it as evil and hateful, with sincere 
sorrow, humility, and confession, and a returning 
to God; because he is good and willing to forgive, 



Means Vary and Results Differ 79 

with a determination to live in obedience to his 
commandments. x 

The discovery of the justice of God serves to awaken 
conscience and often produces a fearful looking for 
of judgment and fiery indignation. This is the natural 
and reasonable effect of a clear apprehension of the 
rectitude of the divine character, as a judge who 
renders to every one his due. 

6. Justification. 

The state of mind described in the preceding chapter 
(on the conviction of sin) cannot be long endured. 
Some way of satisfying the demands of conscience 
must be adopted. When the mind is enlightened 
by divine truth and duly impressed with a sense of 
guilt, it cannot fail anxiously to inquire, How can 
man be just with God? The answer given to this 
question decides the character of our religion, and if 
practically adopted, our future destiny. To give a 
wrong answer, is to mistake the way to heaven. It is 
to err where error is fatal. . . . The obedience which 
the law demands, is called righteousness; and those 
who render that obedience are called righteous. To 
ascribe righteousness to any one, or to pronounce him 
righteous, is the Scriptural meaning of the word " to 
justify." . . . When God justifies a man, he declares 
him to be righteous. To justify never means to make 
holy. It is said to be sinful to justify the wicked ; but 
it could never be sinful to render the wicked holy. . . . 
Could the law pronounce righteous, and thus give title 

1 The Way of Life, pp. 225-234. 



80 History of Religious Feeling 

to the promised life to those who had broken its com- 
mands, there would have been no necessity of any- 
other provision for the salvation of men; but, as 
the law cannot thus lower its demands, justification 
by the law is impossible. . . . The whole Scriptures, 
from beginning to end, are crowded with condemna- 
tions of the doctrine of justification by works. . . . 
Unless we are freed from the law, not as a rule of 
duty, but as prescribing the conditions of acceptance 
with God, justification is for us impossible. . . . Be- 
lievers are freed from the law, as prescribing the con- 
ditions of their acceptance with God; it is no longer 
incumbent upon them, in order to justification, to fulfil 
its demand of perfect obedience, or to satisfy its penal 
exactions. But how is this deliverance effected? . . . 
It is not by the abrogation of the law, either as to its 
precepts or penalty. . . . By the mystery of vicarious 
obedience and suffering. . . . This is the gospel of the 
grace of God. . . . The Scriptures teach us that the Son 
of God, . . . perfectly obeyed that law, and suffered 
its penalty, and thus, by satisfying its demands, de- 
livered us from its bondage and introduced us into 
the glorious liberty of the sons of God. ... It is thus 
then the Scriptures answer the question, How can a 
man be just with God? When the soul is burdened 
with a sense of sin, when it sees how reasonable and 
holy is that law which demands perfect obedience 
and which threatens death as the penalty of trans- 
gression; when it feels the absolute impossibility of 
ever satisfying these just demands by its own obedi- 
ence and sufferings, it is then that the revelation of 
Jesus Christ as our righteousness is felt to be the 
wisdom and power of God unto salvation. Destitute 



Means Vary and Results Differ 81 

of all righteousness in ourselves we have our right- 
eousness in him. What we could not do he has done 
for us. The righteousness, therefore, on the ground 
of which the sentence of justification is passed on 
the believing sinner, is not his own but that of Jesus 
Christ. 1 

7. Faith. 

If God has revealed a plan of salvation for sinners, 
they must, in order to be saved, acquiesce in its 
provisions. By whatever name it may be called, 
the thing to be done is to approve and accept of 
the terms of salvation presented in the gospel. . . . 
As justification is pardon and acceptance on the 
ground of the righteousness of Christ, acquiescence 
in the plan of salvation involves the recognition and 
acceptance of the work of Christ as the only ground of 
justification before God. . . . The word by which this 
acceptance of Christ is commonly expressed in the 
Bible, is faith. . . . Assent to a speculative or abstract 
truth is a speculative act; assent to a moral truth 
is a moral act ; assent to a promise made to ourselves, is 
an act of trust. ... In the language of the Bible, faith 
in the promise of God is a believing reliance, and no 
blessing is connected with mere assent as distinguished 
and separated from reliance. . . . Men, who all their 
lives have neglected or reviled the truth, and who 
may have accumulated a treasury of objections to 
the authority of the Scriptures, are often brought to 
believe by a power which they cannot resist. . . . 

1 The Way of Life, pp. 145-190. 
6 



82 History of Religious Feeling 

Here is a faith very different, in its origin, nature, and 
effects, from that which rests upon the authority of 
men, or upon external evidence and argument. . . . 
It is faith which rests upon the manifestation, by the 
Holy Spirit, of the excellence, beauty, and suita- 
bleness of the truth. . . . That faith, which is the gift 
of God, which arises from his opening our eyes to see 
the excellence of the truth, is attended with joy and 
love. Those feelings are as immediately and neces- 
sarily attendant on this kind of faith as pleasure is 
on the perception of beauty. . . . When the mind 
is perplexed and anxious from a sense of sin and the 
accusations of conscience; when the troubled spirit 
looks round for some way of escape from the just 
displeasure of God, the voice of mercy from the lips 
of the Son of God is, Come unto me, believe upon me, 
submit to be saved by me. Till this is done nothing 
is done. And when this cordial act of faith in Christ 
is exercised, we are accepted for his sake, and he un- 
dertakes to save us from the dominion and condem- 
nation of our sins. 1 

Upon this description of the process of conver- 
sion, two or three observations are to be made. 
I. That the doctrines, here set forth, if seriously 
and earnestly dwelt upon, in the order given, 
will excite the emotions which are held to consti- 
tute conversion; and that the conversion, thus 
produced, will be eminently rational; but that 
the doctrines, thus dwelt upon, operate as 
natural causes. 2. That in this description, 

1 The Way of Life, pp. 191-218. 



Means Vary and Results Differ 83 

no direct divine action upon the soul is alleged 
to take place except the illumination of the mind 
by the Holy Spirit ; which, as we have seen (p. 21), 
may be providential and not miraculous. 3. 
That this type of conversion is held to be necessary 
to salvation. The author says: "The answer to 
this question (How can a man be just with God?) 
decides the character of our religion; and, if 
practically adopted, our future destiny. To 
give a wrong answer is to mistake the way to 
heaven. It is to err where error is fatal." Of 
the acceptance of justification through Christ 
by faith he says, "Till this is done nothing is 
done." 

While we admit the genuineness and the 
spiritual value of the religious feelings, thus 
excited, we cannot admit the momentous conse- 
quences which are alleged to be dependent upon 
the conversion thus produced. It is probable 
that a benevolent desire to persuade men to be 
converted and thus secure salvation has led the 
author to take a position inconsistent with the 
position he has elsewhere taken and firmly main- 
tained. He was one of the most catholic of 
theologians. He recognized, as belonging to the 
church of Christ, whole denominations which 
required no conversion, produced by these doc- 
trines, as a term of membership. He subscribed 
to the definition of the church contained in the 
Form of Government of the Presbyterian Church : 



84 History of Religious Feeling 

"The universal church consists of all those persons, 
in every nation, together with their children, who 
make profession of the holy religion of Christ; 
and of submission to his laws." "A particular 
church consists of a number of professing Chris- 
tians, with their offspring, voluntarily associated 
together, for divine worship and holy living, 
agreeably to the Holy Scriptures; and submitting 
to a certain form of government." He believed 
that children, dying in" infancy, are saved; he 
believed, with the evangelical Christian world, 
that it is regeneration secures salvation to both 
the dying infant and the living adult. He be- 
lieved that a true conversion is a consequent or an 
effect of regeneration; not an antecedent or cause 
of regeneration; and not necessarily an immediate 
consequent. 

That the ^Christian* world, even that part of it 
which is most orthodox and evangelical, does not 
believe that a conversion springing from and 
formed by the theological doctrines set forth in 
The Way of Life is necessary to salvation, appears 
from the following facts. I. The fact that they 
acknowledge as true Christians the members of 
denominations which reject the doctrine of the 
imputation of sin and of righteousness, and the 
doctrine of the death of Christ as a vicarious 
sacrifice. 2. The fact that these doctrines were 
not factors, either first or last, in the experiences 
of the mystics, which all acknowledge to have 



Means Vary and Results Differ 85 

been truly Christian experiences. 3. The fact 
that these doctrines are absent from certain works 
which are universally accepted as spiritual classics, 
describing the highest type of Christian experi- 
ence, such as The Imitation of Christ and The 
G er mania Theologia. 4. The fact that some of those 
who believed every one of these doctrines have 
experienced a conversion in which these doctrines 
do not appear to have been factors at all, notably 
that of Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, and 
others (see Appendix) and yet the conversion 
has been universally accepted as genuine. Jona- 
than Edwards tells us that he had from his 
childhood many strong religious impressions, that 
seemed to be truly Christian; and that, for long 
periods, he seemed to live the life of a true Chris- 
tian; but he thus describes the experience, which 
he regarded as his conversion: 

The first instance I remember of that sort of inward 
sweet delight in God and divine things, that I have 
lived much in since, was in reading the words I Tim. i., 
17. " Now unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, 
the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and 
ever. Amen." As I read the words, there came into 
my soul and was, as it were, diffused through it, 
a sense of the glory of the divine Being: a new sense, 
quite different from anything I had ever experienced 
before. Never any words of Scripture seemed to me 
as these words did. I thought, within myself, how 
excellent a being that was; and how happy I should 



86 History of Religious Feeling 

be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up to him 
to heaven; and be, as it were, swallowed up in him 
for ever. I kept saying and, as it were, singing over 
these words of Scripture to myself; and went to pray 
to God that I might enjoy him ; and prayed in a man- 
ner quite different from what I used to do, with a new 
sort of affection. But it never came into my thought 
that there was anything spiritual, or of a saving 
nature in this. From about that time, I began to 
have a new kind of apprehensions of Christ, and the 
work of redemption, and the glorious way of salva- 
tion by him. Those words, Cant, ii., i, used to be 
abundantly with me. The words seemed to me 
sweetly to represent the loveliness and beauty of 
Christ; "I am the rose of sharon and the lily of the 
valley." The whole book of Canticles used to be 
pleasant to me, and I used to be much in reading it 
about that time; and found, from time to time, an 
inward sweetness, that would carry me away in my 
contemplations. This I know not how to express 
otherwise than by a calm, sweet abstraction of soul 
from all the concerns of the world; and sometimes a 
kind of vision, or fixed ideas, or imaginations, of 
being alone in the mountains or some solitary wilder- 
ness, far from all mankind, sweetly conversing with 
Christ and wrapped and swallowed up in God. The 
sense of divine things would often, of a sudden, 
kindle up, as it were, a sweet burning in my heart, 
an ardor of soul, that I knew not how to express. . . . 
The appearance of everything was altered; there 
seemed to be, as it were, a calm, sweet cast or ap- 
pearance of divine glory in almost everything. God's 
excellency, his wisdom, his purity, and love, seemed to 



Means Vary and Results Differ 87 

appear in everything; in the sun, moon, and stars; 
in the clouds and blue sky; in the grass, flowers, 
trees; in the water and all nature; which used greatly 
to fix my mind. I often used to sit and view the 
moon for a long time ; and in the day spent much time 
in viewing the clouds and sky, to behold the sweet 
glory of God in these things : in the meantime singing 
forth, with a low voice, my contemplations of the 
Creator and Redeemer. And scarce anything, among 
all the works of nature, was so sweet to me as the 
thunder and lightning; formerly nothing had been 
so terrible to me. ... I felt God, if I may so speak, at 
the first appearance of a thunder-storm; and used to 
take the opportunity, at such times, to fix myself, in 
order to view the clouds and see the lightning play, 
and hear the majestic and awful voice of God's 
thunder; which oftentimes was exceedingly enter- 
taining, leading me to sweet contemplations of my 
great and glorious God. While thus engaged, it 
always seemed natural to me to sing or chant forth 
my meditations, or to speak my thoughts in soliloquies 
with a singing voice. x 

Up to the last quarter of the last century, that 
large part of the Christian world which is called 
evangelical regarded all unconverted persons as 
unregenerate, lost sinners, and held that a true 
conversion must begin with what was called 
conviction, a deep and agonizing sense of sin, 
produced by a full apprehension of the demands 
of the law of God and of the terrors of its threaten- 

1 Works, i., p. lv. 



88 History of Religious Feeling 

ings, accompanied by a recognition of the justice 
of God in condemning the sinner to eternal 
perdition. This conviction must be followed by 
a reaction, in which the previous agonizing emo- 
tions were supplanted by joyful emotions of 
corresponding intensity, produced by the recog- 
nition of Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice, 
suffering, in the sinner's stead, the penalty of all 
his sins. In order to produce this alternation of 
emotion, the law, in the full extent of its demands 
and with all its terrors, was first pressed upon the 
conscience of the sinner ; and then the Gospel, with 
all its richness of mercy and sweetness of love, was 
presented to his heart. 

The conversion once accomplished, it was not 
thought necessary, and it was not expected, that 
the repentance should ever return in its agonizing 
intensity, indeed, such agony would have been 
taken as evidence that one had lost, or lost sight of, 
his gracious state. The joyful emotion, however, 
was expected to continue, an expectation which, in 
the nature of things, always met with disappoint- 
ment. The record of those who made daily note 
of the tides of feeling and of the effects of the 
divine breath on the soul is, in the main, a record 
of vain and distressing efforts to accomplish the 
impossible. 

While the Christian world still feels called up- 
on to maintain the assumption that conversion is 
necessary to salvation, and that the conversion 



Means Vary and Results Differ 89 

is supernaturally produced, it has sought relief 
from the difficulties of the assumption, in a reduc- 
tion of the character of the experience necessary 
to constitute conversion; which mode of relief 
has been attended by a corresponding reduction 
in the cogency of the means employed to produce 
the experience. Modern evangelists do not press 
upon the sinners attention the terrors of the law. 
No one of them would undertake to begin a revival 
of religion by preaching a sermon like that of 
Edwards on "The justice of God in the damnation 
of the sinner/' The love of God, and not his 
justice, is the divine attribute now employed to 
produce conversion. At most, conversion is made 
to be an act of the will, in response to the invita- 
tions: "Come to Christ," "Give yourself to 
Christ," "Accept Christ," "Trust in Christ," 
the emotional factor being reduced to the lowest 
degree and even that, sometimes, of a question- 
able character. In some cases, the sinner is 
urged to come to Christ and to accept Christ, as 
an act of benevolence or compassion towards 
Christ himself, relieving him of the anguish of 
his long waiting for the sinner's return. 

The methods of producing the small amount of 
emotion required are familiar. The evangelist 
who conducts the meeting, whether minister or 
layman, is almost always a stranger; there is 
striking novelty in his manner, appearance, mode 
of thought, and method; his reputation for success 



90 History of Religious Feeling 

in making converts has preceded him; his de- 
meanor gives to the people the impression that he is 
possessed of superior consecration and heavenly- 
mindedness; that he is the holy man, the man of 
God, that he is in man's highest state — not an 
enthusiast, but really en-theos — and the people 
are affected with an admiration for him, almost 
with a spirit of worship, which causes them to 
yield themselves to his influence. Previous adver- 
tisement and preparation awaken an expectation 
of the divine presence and power. The evangelist 
has requested that all the churches before his 
coming unite in prayer for a blessing upon the 
effort, and that when he comes, all unite in the 
meeting. The great congregation is itself im- 
pressive, and a sympathetic glow of feeling is 
propagated throughout the whole body: the 
professional singing, the congregation acting as 
chorus; one part of the song being rendered in 
explosive tones, and the other in the softest breath 
notes; one part sung by the males, and the other 
by the females, — the latter, producing a weird 
effect; sometimes making the flesh tingle — the 
rising of Christians, at the bidding of the 
evangelist, to mark those who are not Chris- 
tians ; the bowing of the heads of the Christians, 
in silent prayer; then the voice of the evan- 
gelist softly breaking the solemn stillness with 
a tender invitation to those who desire to be 
Christians to rise, which, as it has been arranged 



Means Vary and Results Differ 91 

that all heads are bowed and none can see, may be 
done on the prompting of the slightest impulse; 
then the subdued emotional announcement of the 
evangelist, ''There is one"; "there is another"; 
"is there not one more; yes, there is another." 1 
At the close of the meeting those who have risen 
are requested to retire to an inquiry room for 
the help of "Christian workers." This being 

1 One would think that, to a right mind, it would be but 
little less than shocking to go into the presence of the all-seeing 
and heart-searching God with such a false pretence; pretending 
to use the sacred privilege of prayer for the only purpose in- 
tended by him who granted it, supplication for his blessing 
and help; and then employ it as a part of machinery, framed 
by man, for the production of a desired effect. It would be 
unjust to characterize the whole action as false pretence, for 
there is in it undoubtedly something of the true spirit of suppli- 
cation; but, just as undoubtedly, in so far as it is used as a 
mechanical means of producing a certain effect, it is a false 
pretence. 

A striking instance of the perversion came within the ob- 
servation of the author. It was at the first of a series of evangel- 
istic meetings, that were to be held in a certain large town, by 
Mr. D. L. Moody. The large auditorium was crowded with 
an expectant assembly: the ministers of all the evangelical 
denominations of the place were seated on the pulpit platform; 
the Scriptures had been read; and instantly, at the last note 
of the second hymn, Mr. Moody said, in a mandatory whisper, 
which all that were on the pulpit platform could hear: "Somebody 
pray." A very natural diffidence, in the presence of the great 
evangelist, caused a moment's delay, when Mr. Moody rushed 
to the pulpit, with petulance manifested in his motion and 
himself prayed. In such a case, one is warranted in supposing 
that the attention was fixed on the prayer, as a part of evangel- 
istic machinery, and not entirely upon its efficiency in procuring, 
from the being addressed, the blessings desired. 



92 History of Religious Feeling 

done, and the question, whether they are will- 
ing to accept Christ, being answered in the af- 
firmative, they are accepted as converted, and 
are received into the church of their preference. 

The emotions which are supposed to constitute 
conversion in these cases are of a very mild 
character, and the ideas from which they spring 
are vague; and it is plain that the mechanism 
employed is fully adequate to the production of 
the whole result. 

The reduction in the quantity and quality 
of the emotion, which are required by our modern 
evangelism to constitute a true conversion, is the 
necessary result of changes in the modes of thought 
which have come to prevail, of late, in the en- 
lightened world. All the mental images we form 
of the divine being must, of necessity, be anthropo- 
morphic. A century ago they were more con- 
cretely man-like than they can be now. Kant's 
theory of knowledge and the philosophical theories 
of such men as Sir William Hamilton, Dean 
Mansel, and Herbert Spencer, that all our know- 
ledge of God is representative, not presentative ; 
together with the theory of evolution as the mode 
of divine action in creation, has so blurred the 
anthropomorphic conception, as to greatly reduce 
the effect of the conception on the emotional 
nature. With the passing away of the vivid 
anthropomorphic conceptions of God, have passed 
away the vivid conceptions of the blessedness of 



Means Vary and Results Differ 93 

heaven and of the torments of hell; and it is 
impossible that the awakening of the sinner, and 
his experience in conversion, should be now what 
they were a century ago, excepting among the 
most ignorant of men. 1 

x When Anthropomorphism has been dispelled by the in- 
fluence of modern thought there will be an ascent into the clouds 
of Transcendentalism, in which all things will appear like the 
primaeval chaos, without form and void, with darkness upon the 
face of the deep, producing no clear impression on the mind 
and no strong emotion in the heart; and, as a natural conse- 
quence, all vital religion will die out in the higher ranks of men. 
Soon, however, men will obey the Theotropism which has been 
implanted in their nature and will descend to Bethlehem and 
Calvary, and the garden of Arimathea, where Theantropism, will 
furnish rational ground for faith and religious emotion. They 
will see, as Dr. Wilhelm Herman, Professor of Theology in the 
University of Marburg, does; that "God is none other than 
that Personal Spirit, who comes spiritually near us, in the 
existence in this world of the Man Jesus, and who thus compels 
us to think of Him as the Lord who holds in His grasp both 
ourselves and that infinite realm by which our life is conditioned." 
— The Communion of the Christian with God, 180 (Eng. Trans.). 



CHAPTER IV 
Natural Causes of Conversion 

IN determining the question, whether conversion 
is wholly or in part, the product of a super- 
natural cause, we shall have to take account of the 
various natural causes which undoubtedly make 
some contribution to the result. If these causes 
shall be found to be adequate to the production 
of the whole result, the hypothesis of a super- 
natural cause would be excluded unless its presence 
should be manifested by special and indubitable 
signs. We shall, therefore, now proceed to the 
consideration of those causes. 

i. The Discontent, Dissatisfaction and Dis- 
tress which arise from the inherent physical, men- 
tal, and moral imperfection of man; and from 
the troubles unto which all men are born. The 
desire for relief from these evils is one of the 
strongest and most persistent of all that rise 
in the breast of man. To this end all his labors 
are directed; but he soon finds that his labor 
is in vain; he is compelled to recognize the fact 
that no human agency will ever be able to give 

94 



Natural Causes of Conversion 95 

the relief he wants; and that, if it ever come, it 
must come from heaven. In the Christian world 
however, he will encounter serious obstacles to 
his turning to heaven for relief. The conception 
of the deity as a being of perfect holiness, which 
Christianity has brought into the world, instead 
of relieving his distress, aggravates it, extinguish- 
ing all hope and fills his heart with despair. 
From heaven comes the declaration: "Behold, the 
Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save; 
neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear; but 
your iniquities have separated between you and 
your God, and your sins have hid his face from 
you, that he will not hear." 1 The sad soliloquy 
of the sinful soul must be: " Therefore, am I 
troubled at his presence; and when I consider, 
I am afraid of him. " 2 The very thought of God's 
presence will be a distress; and all men will shun 
it, as did the first sinning pair. "And they heard 
the voice of the Lord God, walking in the garden 
in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife 
hid themselves, from the presence of the Lord 
God, amongst the trees of the garden." 3 Never- 
theless, the theotropism, which has been implanted 
in the nature of man, will maintain a constant 
tendency to turn toward God; and this tendency 
will be reinforced by the belief that the God of 
perfect holiness is also a God of infinite goodness. 
This, however, will bring no relief; it will rather 

x Is. lx., 1, 2. 3 Job xxiii., 15. 3 Gen. iii., 8. 



96 History of Religious Feeling 

aggravate the distress, by the mental schism it 
has created. Every man will be compelled to 
utter Paul's lament: 

The good that I would, I do not; but the evil, 
which I would not, that I do. — I delight in the law 
of God after the inward man; but I see another law 
in my members, warring against the law of my mind, 
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which 
is in my members. wretched man that I am. 
Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 

All who feel that wretchedness will be powerfully 
moved to seek relief in the goodness and mercy 
of the Lord; they will want to be brought into 
that happy state in which they can exclaim, with 
Paul: "I thank God through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. " Now, where the experience of conversion 
is believed to be the only way of entrance into 
that state, the dissatisfaction, discontent, and dis- 
tress, which spring from the imperfection of the 
nature, and from the troubles within and without, 
will act powerfully, as natural causes of the ex- 
perience; and will impart effectiveness to all 
other natural causes. 

2. The Relation of the Child to the Parent. 
This relationship has already given to the child 
experiences which are the antitypes of the ex- 
perience of conversion, and have prepared the 
way for that experience. The superior power 
and wisdom of his parents are recognized by the 



Natural Causes of Conversion 97 

child; their daily kindnesses impress him with a 
sense of their great goodness, and make him feel 
his obligation to obedience. Their commands 
and the restraints they put upon his way- 
ward impulses; the punishments they inflict for 
his wrong-doings; his rebelliousness, sometimes 
wrought up to the highest pitch, and, after reach- 
ing its climax, breaking down into sweet submis- 
sion and love, have made deep and unfading 
impressions on his mind. Now, when he comes to 
realize that he has a father in heaven, who is more 
powerful, loving, and kind, than his earthly father; 
that this father has the deepest concern for his 
welfare ; and when he realizes that he has rebelled 
against that father, broken his commandments, 
and done despite unto his love; it would be but 
natural that a similar experience should occur 
in the new relationship. The susceptibility to 
the experience was implanted by the Creator 
in both cases to serve an important purpose, the 
conservation of life and also the promotion of the 
growth toward a perfect manhood. It is evident 
that the natural susceptibility and the ideas con- 
nected with the relationship are enough, in the 
case of the child, to produce the whole experience 
we have described. No potency was ever sup- 
posed to go from the father into the breast of the 
child as a cause of that experience. If, then, the 
natural susceptibility and the ideas connected 
with the relationship are sufficient to cause the 



98 History of Religious Feeling 

whole experience, in the one case, shall we not 
need some special reason for the belief that they 
have not a like sufficiency, in the other case? 

3. Sympathy. The sympathetic communica- 
tion of strong emotion from one to another in large 
assemblies is a fact too common to need either 
proof or illustration; and it can hardly be denied 
that the emotions which constitute conversion 
are often propagated, by this means. Individuals 
who are entirely isolated from their fellow men 
may be converted, but not many are now con- 
verted in such conditions. Since the advent of 
evangelism conversions do not occur in solitude; 
they are expected to occur only in special revival 
meetings, when large numbers of people are as- 
sembled, and measures are adopted to excite 
a common sympathetic feeling: 1 

1 "Being in a part of the country where I was known by face 
to scarcely any one, and hearing that there was a great meeting in 
the neighborhood and a good work in progress, I determined to 
attend. The sermon had commenced before I arrived, and the 
house was so crowded that I could not approach near the pulpit, 
but sat down in a kind of shed connected with the main building, 
where I could hear and see the preacher. His sermon was 
really striking and impressive, and in language and method far 
above the common run of extempore discourses. The people 
were generally attentive, and, so far as I could observe, many 
were tenderly affected, except that, in the extreme part of the 
house where I sat, some old tobacco-planters kept up a continual 
conversation, in a low tone, about tobacco-plants, seasons, etc. 
When the preacher came to the application of his discourse he 
became exceedingly vehement and boisterous, and I could hear 
some sounds in the centre of the house which indicated strong 
emotion. At length a female voice was heard in a piercing cry 



Natural Causes of Conversion 99 

4. Obstructions to the Natural Tendency to 
Turn to God. We have noticed the fact that the 
feeling in the turning of one sex to the other may 

which thrilled through me and affected the whole audience. It 
was succeeded by a low murmuring sound from the middle of the 
house, but in a few seconds one and another rose in different 
parts of the house under extreme and visible agitation. Casting 
off bonnets and caps and raising folded hands, they shouted to 
the utmost extent of their voices, and, in a few seconds more, the 
whole audience was agitated as a forest when shaken by a 
mighty wind. The sympathetic wave, commencing in the centre 
extended to the extremities; and at length it reached our corner, 
and I felt the conscious effort of resistance as necessary as if I 
had been exposed to the violence of a storm. I saw few persons 
through the whole house who escaped the prevailing influence; 
even careless boys seemed to be arrested and to join in the 
general outcry. But what astonished me most of all was, that 
the old tobacco-planters whom I have mentioned, and who, 
I am persuaded, had not heard one word of the sermon, were 
violently agitated. Every muscle of their brawny faces ap- 
peared to be in tremulous action, and the big tears chased one 
another down their wrinkled cheeks. — The feelings expressed 
were different, — for, while some uttered the poignant cry of 
anguish, others shouted in accents of joy and triumph. The 
speaker's voice was soon silenced, and he sat down and gazed on 
the scene with a complacent smile. When this tumult had lasted 
a few minutes, another preacher, as I supposed, who sat on the 
pulpit steps with his handkerchief spread over his head, began 
to sing a soothing and yet a lively tune, and was quickly joined 
by some strong female voices near him; and in less than two 
minutes the storm was hushed and there was a great calm. 
I experienced the most sensible relief to my own feelings from 
the appropriate music, for I could not hear the words sung. — All 
seemed to enjoy the tranquillity which succeeded. — Indeed there 
is a peculiar luxury in such excitements especially when tears 
are shed copiously, which was the case here." — Thoughts on 
Religious Experience, by Rev. Archibald Alexander, D.D., pp. 
125-126. 



ioo History of Religious Feeling 

rise to a passionate love; and that the feeling in 
the turning to God may rise to an overpowering 
ecstasy. The exaltation of feeling in both cases 
is the effect of the accumulation of force that 
takes place when a natural tendency is obstructed. 

A stream of water, obstructed in its course by 
a dam and apparently destitute of power, will 
sweep away part of the obstruction, overflow 
with tumultuous energy, and then flow on as it 
had done before. 

The natural tendency of man and woman to 
turn toward each other is necessarily, in civilized 
society, obstructed in their earlier years; and 
when the expectation of marriage comes, the ac- 
cumulated energy of the tendency expends itself 
in passionate love. Where woman is regarded 
as an inferior being, is held in subjection by man, 
is denied the control of her own body, and where 
man has only to command in order to obtain the 
gratification of his passion, there is no such love. 

The natural tendency in man to turn to God 
meets an obstruction: I. In the interpretation 
he puts upon the evils that befall him and upon 
his own moral and spiritual imperfection; taking 
them as evidence of God's alienation from him. 
2. By the deep impression made upon him by 
the religious ecstasies and raptures which he may 
observe in particular individuals anywhere around 
him. Seeing that these exalted experiences are 
real, he can hardly help regarding them as superior 



Natural Causes of Conversion 101 

in value to his more moderate feeling. He will 
therefore cease to use the means by which that 
feeling is sustained, and will wait for the coming 
of the stronger feeling. 3. He is informed by a 
large and respectable part of the Christian world 
that it is only in such an experience that man can 
obtain any acceptance from God. And he finds 
that this information is based on the fact — 
confidently assumed to be such — that this exalted 
state of feeling is a supernatural work, a miracle 
wrought in the soul. He is told, and he believes, 
that his feeling will have no value until that work 
be wrought in him. 

We have here obstruction piled upon obstruc- 
tion, the last being the highest and the most 
difficult to surmount; and, in these obstructions, 
we have a full explanation of the energy of the 
action when they are overcome. J 

5. Degeneration. It is to be remembered that 
there are conditions, in the life of all creatures, 
which tend to degeneration. "With regard to 
parasites, naturalists have long recognized what is 
called retrogressive metamorphosis; and parasitic 
animals are, as a rule, admitted to be instances 
of degeneration." The barnacle is given as an 

1 In marriage the passionate love soon subsides and the divine 
purpose of the union is thereafter accomplished by means of a 
milder and more enduring affection. The religious rapture is 
also of short duration; soon subsides; and thereafter the divine 
purpose in the tropism is accomplished by means of a milder 
and more enduring religious feeling. 



102 History of Religious Feeling 

example of a degenerate Nauplius ; the acarus equi, 
the parasite on the skin of the horse, and the demo- 
dex folliculorunij found in the skin of the human 
face, are given as examples of degenerate spiders. x 

There are conditions which produce degenera- 
tion in men ; especially those in whom the nervous 
system is overtaxed, as by the noises of the city, 
the attrition of its crowds, and the rush of its 
activities. The degeneration, thus caused, or 
inherited, is one of the occasional causes of the 
religious ecstasy. Dr. Antsie says, " So much evi- 
dent depression attends the phenomena of som- 
nambulism and catalepsy, which I have now 
described, that it may at first surprise you when 
I say that hysterical ecstasy is distinctly to be 
reckoned as marking a lower grade of nervous 
degradation than they. Yet it is truly the case. " 2 

Max Nordau, in speaking of mysticism says, 
"It follows so generally in the train of the latter 
(degeneration) that there is scarcely a case of 
degeneration in which it does not appear." 3 
It cannot be maintained that conversion is a 
sign of degeneration and that all the converted are 
degenerates. But it cannot be denied that degen- 
eration may be one of the natural contributing 
causes of conversion and that degenerates more 

1 Degeneration. A Chapter in Darwinism, by E. Ray Lancaster, 
pp. 17, 18, 21. 

2 Lectures on the Diseases of the Nervous System, Lancet, 
Jan. 11, 1873, pp. 40-41. 

3 Degeneration, p. 45. 



Natural Causes of Conversion it>3 

readily obtain the experience than persons whose 
constitutional tendency is in the upward direction. 
6. Expectant Attention and Dominant or 
Fixed Ideas. Dr. Carpenter says : 

The influence of this state of " expectant attention" 
upon the organic functions of the body, being fully 
admitted among scientific physiologists, there can be 
no difficulty in making the further admission, that 
the peculiar concentration of the attention which can 
be obtained in the hypnotic state, should produce 
still more striking results. 

Expectant attention to any particular object, too 
frequently indulged in, will result in a fixed idea, 
which will dominate the mental operations, resisting 
all voluntary efforts to change it ; and will be attended 
by remarkable mental and physical phenomena. 

The effects which expectant attention and fixed 
ideas may produce on both body and mind are 
exhibited in the following: 

Louise Lateau was born at Bois d' Haine, a small 
village in Belgium, Jan. 30, 1850, was reared in the 
utmost poverty, was chlorotic, loved solitude and 
silence, and when not engaged in work — and she does 
not appear to have labored much — she spent her 
time in meditation and prayer. She was subject to 
paroxysms of ecstasy, during which she spoke very 
edifying things of charity, poverty, and the priest- 
hood, St. Roch, St. Theresa, and the Holy Virgin. 
On a certain Friday, she bled from the left side of her 
chest; on the following Friday, this flow was renewed, 



104 History of Religious Feeling 

and in addition, blood escaped from the dorsal sur- 
faces of both feet; and on the third Friday, not only 
did she bleed from side and feet, but also from the 
dorsal and palmar surfaces of both hands. Every 
succeeding Friday the blood flowed from these places. 
At first these bleedings took place at night, but after 
two or three months they occurred in the day time, 
and were accompanied by paroxysms of ecstasy, 
during which she was insensible to all external im- 
pressions, and acted the passion of Jesus and the 
crucifixion. M. Warlomont, commissioned by the 
Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium to examine 
her case, says in the report of his first visit: 

11 It is a quarter past six. ' Here comes the commun- 
ion,' said M. Niels (a priest) , ' kneel down.' Louise fell 
on her knees on the floor, closed her eyes, and crossed 
her hands, on which the communion cloth was ex- 
tended. A priest, followed by several acolytes, 
entered; the penitent put out her tongue, received the 
holy wafer, and then remained immovable in the 
attitude of prayer. — Her immobility was that of a 
statue, her eyes were closed; on raising the eyelids 
the pupils were seen to be largely dilated, immovable, 
and apparently insensible to light. Strong pressure, 
made upon the parts in the vicinity of the stigmata, 
caused no sensation of pain, although a few moments 
before they were exquisitely tender. Pricking the 
skin gave no evidence of the slightest sensibility. A 
limb, on being raised, offered no resistance, and sank 
slowly back to its former position. Anaesthesia was 
complete, unless the cornea remained still impression- 
able. The pulse had fallen from 120 to 100 pulsations. 
At a given moment I raised one of the eyelids, and M. 



Natural Causes of Conversion 105 

Verriest quickly touched the cornea. Louise at once 
seemed to recover herself from a sound sleep, arose 
and walked to a chair, upon which she seated herself. 
'This time,' I said, 'We have awakened her.' 'No,' 
said M. Neils, looking at his watch, ' it was time for 
her to awake.' She remained conscious; the blood 
still continued to flow; the anaesthesia had ceased, 
her pulse rose to 120, and at the end of half an hour 
she was herself. An apparatus was constructed and 
applied to Louise's hand and arm so as to prevent any 
external excitation of the hemorrhage. It was ap- 
parently shown that there was no such interference, 
for the blood began to flow at the usual time on 
Friday." The conclusions, arrived at by M. Warlo- 
mont, were that the stigmatizations and ecstasies 
of Louise Lateau were real, and to be explained 
upon well known physiological and pathological 
principles. 1 

The natural effects of expectant attention and 
the fixed idea appeared in the dancing mania 
which prevailed in Europe for two centuries in the 
Middle Ages. The persons affected formed circles, 
hand in hand, and appearing to have lost all 
control over their senses, continued dancing re- 
gardless of bystanders, for hours together, in 
wild delirium, until at length they fell to the 
ground in a state of exhaustion. While dancing 
they neither saw nor heard, being insensible to 
external impressions through the senses, but were 

1 Nervous Derangement, William A. Hammond, M.D., 175-181. 



106 History of Religious Feeling 

haunted by visions; their fancies conjuring up 
spirits, whose names they shrieked out. Some of 
them asserted afterward that they felt as if they 
had been immersed in a stream of blood, which 
obliged them to leap so high; others, during the 
paroxysm, saw the heavens opened, and the 
Saviour enthroned with the Virgin Mary. 

Dr. J. F. C. Hecker, in his history of the 
Epidemics of the Middle Ages, says that the 
dancing mania 

did not remain confined to particular localities, but 
was propagated by the sight of the sufferers, like a 
demoniacal epidemic, over the whole of Germany and 
the neighboring countries to the northwest. In 1374, 
it appeared in Aix-la-Chapelle, propagated by per- 
sons who came out from Germany. . . . Most of those 
affected were only annually visited by the attacks ; and 
the occasion of them was so manifestly referable to 
the prevailing notions of that period that, if the un- 
qualified belief in the supernatural agency of saints 
could have been abolished, they would not have any 
return of the complaint. Throughout the whole of 
June, prior to the festival of St. John, patients felt a 
disquietude and restlessness which they were unable 
to overcome. They were dejected, timid, anxious, 
wandered about in an unsettled state, being tormented 
with twitching pains, which seized them suddenly in 
different parts, and eagerly expected the eve of St. 
John's day in the confident hope that by dancing at 
the altars of this saint or St. Vitus, they would be 
freed from all their sufferings. This hope was not 



Natural Causes of Conversion 107 

disappointed; and they remained, the rest of the year, 
exempt from any further attack. 

In the year 1727, Francis of Paris, a zealous Jan- 
senist, died and was buried in the cemetery of St. 
Medard, in a suburb of Paris. He was regarded as 
very holy by the Jansenists on account of his extreme 
asceticism, and his tomb was devoutly visited by 
many of his followers. In September, 1731, a rumor 
was spread that miracles had been wrought at his 
tomb, and multitudes resorted to it for the healing 
of their diseases. Many were seized with convul- 
sions, threw themselves into the most violent con- 
tortions of the body, rolled on the ground, imitated 
birds, beasts, and fishes, and at last, when completely 
exhausted, fell into a swoon. Sometimes the patients 
bounded from the ground, like fish when out of water; 
and this became so frequent that the women and girls, 
not wishing to appear indecent, put on gowns made 
like sacks, closed at the feet, when they expected the 
convulsions to come on. The female sex especially 
was distinguished by all kinds of leaping, and almost 
inconceivable contortions of the body; some spun 
around on their feet with incredible rapidity; others 
curved their bodies so that their heels touched their 
shoulders. Similar experiences, attended with similar 
phenomena, have been produced by impressions 
which have not been at all religous in character; 
for example: 

Tarantism, an ecstatic experience which, begin- 
ning in Apulia in the latter part of the fourteenth 
century, spread as an epidemic to the other provinces 
of Italy, and appeared at various times throughout 
two or three centuries, reaching its greatest height in 



108 History of Religious Feeling 

the seventeenth century. It was supposed to have 
been produced by the bite of the tarantula. Those 
who were bitten generally fell into a state of melan- 
cholia, and appeared to be stupefied, and scarcely 
in their senses. This condition was, in many cases, 
united with so great a sensibility to music, that at 
the very first tones of their favorite melodies, they 
sprang up, shouting for joy, and danced on without 
intermission, until they sank to the ground exhausted 
and almost lifeless. In others the disease did not 
take this cheerful turn. They wept constantly, 
and as if pining away with some unsatisfied desire, 
spent their days in the greatest misery and anxiety. 
Others again, in morbid fits of love, cast their long- 
ing looks on women, and instances of death are re- 
corded, which are said to have occurred under a 
paroxysm of laughing or weeping. 

The Tigretier, a similar epidemic of ecstasy, at- 
tended with similar physical effects, took its name 
from Tigre, a province of Abyssinia, in which it took 
its rise and from which it spread to other provinces. 

In both of these affections, the ecstasy, unlike the 
religious ecstasy, was dreaded, not desired; in both 
music was employed, but to allay, not to increase the 
violence of the paroxysm; in both cases, women were 
more readily and more generally affected than men. x 

6. The Reproductive Impulse. Christian 
people will be reluctant to admit that there is 
any connection between the sexual and religious 

1 The Dancing Mania of the Middle Ages, J. F. C. Hecker, 
M.D., Chapter II. 



Natural Causes of Conversion 109 

feelings — such a connection that the one may- 
become a natural cause of the other. It can be 
plainly seen, however, that these two feelings 
were intended by the Creator to be the principal 
means of accomplishing his one great purpose 
for the world — the development of the perfect man. 
The one feeling was intended to contribute to that 
end by variation and the survival of the best, 
which contribution would depend upon multi- 
plication; the other, by obtaining the aid which 
has been offered by God himself in his scheme 
for the redemption of the world. The two feelings 
in man are, therefore, like two pools of water in a 
basin, with a low barrier between them; at a low 
stage they are separate, but if the water in either 
be raised above the barrier it will overflow into 
the other, until both form but one pool without a 
perceptible division between them. 

Psychologists regard the sexual feeling as a 
general feeling, like that of hunger or thirst. 
These feelings are general, in that they extend 
beyond the organs in which they have their origin ; 
often pervading the whole system. It seems 
reasonable, at first, to refer hunger to the stomach 
as its organ; but there is no doubt that hunger 
is a feeling of the whole organism. It is not the 
stomach alone that wants food, but the whole 
body. These general feelings act upon all the 
particular feelings increasing their strength. A 
general feeling is to all special feelings as the sun- 



no History of Religious Feeling 

light is to the various pieces of stained glass in the 
cathedral window: each piece may have its pe- 
culiar tint, but the sunlight brightens the tints 
of them all. Such a feeling is co-enesthesia, the 
feeling of well-being, which is experienced when 
all the tissues of the body are in a healthy condi- 
tion and all the organs are perfectly performing 
their functions; it adds strength to every other 
pleasurable feeling and makes it a joy to live. 
One peculiarity of this reinforcement of special 
feelings by a general feeling is, that there is no 
consciousness of it, or of the source from which it 
comes. The general feeling, now under considera- 
tion, may, therefore, enter unconsciously into 
the whole life. 

In the American Journal of Psychology, vol. 
ix., p. 3, a writer, eminent in the science, says, 
"It is certain that very much of what is best in 
religion, art, and life, owes its charm to the pro- 
gressively widening irradiation of sexual feeling. " 

The near relationship of the two kinds of feeling 
appears very plainly in the history of the heathen 
religions, both ancient and modern. 

Siva, the third god of the ancient Hindu triad, 
is called the progenitor of heaven and earth, and 
the rites of his worship are connected with the 
marriage ceremony, in which he is asked to lead 
the bride to the bridegroom and make her pros- 
perous. The symbol of Siva is the linga, (the 
phallus) , an emblem of the male generative power 



Natural Causes of Conversion in 

of nature, with the counterpart, yoni, or the 
symbol of the female nature, as fructified and pro- 
ductive. The manner, in which the linga is re- 
presented, is said to be generally inoffensive; it 
is the pistil of a flower, a pillar of stone, or other 
erect and cylindrical object; but the worship, 
though originally ideal and mystical, very early 
degenerated into the grossest sensuality. 

Baal, the son-god of the Syrians, Phoenicians, 
and heathen Hebrews, was conceived of as the 
male principle of reproduction in nature. Sensual 
indulgence became a sacred rite in his worship; 
and the first sacrifice the youthful female was 
required to make in his temple was that of her 
virtue. An example of this fact may be found 
in the worship of Baal-peor {Num. xxv.,) and in 
the Canaanitish high places, where Baal, the male 
principle, was worshipped in association with the 
unchaste goddess Ashera, the female principle of 
nature. 

In the ancient Egyptian mythology Osiris, re- 
presented the male, and Isis the female principle 
in nature. Osiris introduced civilization into 
Egypt, and then wandered over the world, making 
men acquainted with agriculture and the arts. 
On his return, Typhon, in order to capture and 
destroy him, had a beautiful covered chest made, 
which exactly fitted Osiris; and at an entertain- 
ment, offered to give it to any one who could lie 
down in it. As soon as Osiris made the trial, 



ii2 History of Religious Feeling 

Typhon had the box nailed shut, and threw it into 
the Tanaite branch of the Nile. Isis wandered 
mournfully in search of the body, as Demeter had 
sought for Persephone. At last she found the 
chest ; but while she was away, Typhon discovered 
it, mangled the body of Osiris, and scattered the 
fragments abroad. When Isis found a part of 
the body, she buried it. There was one part she 
did not find. Of that she made and consecrated 
a model : hence — says the myth — came the phallus 
to be an object of worship in Egypt. 

In Italy the name given to Dionysus was 
Bacchus; and there men were admitted to partici- 
pate in the worship. In the Bacchanalia, ac- 
cording to Livy, the initiated indulged, not only 
in feasting and drinking, but when they were 
heated with wine, indulged in the coarsest ex- 
pressions and the most unnatural vices; all 
modesty was set aside, and every vice found its 
full satisfaction. In the course of time, all manner 
of crimes were found springing from the licentious- 
ness. In the consulship of Spurius Postumius 
Albinus and Q. Marius Phillipus, 186 B.C., the 
senate authorized the consuls to issue a proclama- 
tion forbidding any one to be initiated into the 
Bacchic mysteries, or to meet with others for the 
purpose of celebrating them. While the Bac- 
chanalia were thus suppressed, another simpler 
festival, the Liberalia (Liber, being one of the 
names of Bacchus), continued to be celebrated 



Natural Causes of Conversion 113 

at Rome annually on the sixteenth of March. 
The festival was celebrated, at first, with innocent 
symbolic rites, with merriment and various 
amusements; but St. Augustine thus described the 
character of the celebration in his day 390 or 
400 A.D. 

Now as to the rites of Liber, whom they have set 
over liquid seeds and, therefore, not only over the 
liquors of fruits, among which wine holds so to speak, 
the primacy, but also over seeds of animals. As to 
these rites, I am unwilling to show to what excess of 
turpitude they have reached, because that would 
entail a lengthened discourse, though I am not un- 
willing to do so, as a demonstration of the proud 
stupidity of those who practise them. Among other 
rites which I am compelled to omit, Varro says that 
in Italy, at the places where the roads cross each 
other, the rites of Liber were celebrated with such 
unrestrained turpitude, that the private parts of a 
man were worshipped in his honor. Nor was this 
abomination transacted in secret, that some regard, at 
least, might be paid to modesty, but was openly and 
wantonly displayed. For during the festival of 
Liber, this obscene member, placed on a car, was 
carried with great honor, first over the cross roads in 
the country, and then to the city. But in Lavinicum, 
a whole month was devoted to Liber alone, during 
the days of which the whole people gave themselves 
up to the most dissolute conversation, until that 
member had been carried through the Forum and 
brought to rest in its own place: on which unseemly 

8 



ii4 History of Religious Feeling 

member it was necessary that the most honorable 
matron should place a wreath, in the presence of all 
the people. 

Thus, forsooth, was the god Liber appeased in 
order to the growth of seeds : thus was an enchantment 
to be driven away from the fields ; even by a matron's 
being compelled to do in public what not even a 
harlot ought to be permitted to do in a theatre, if 
there were matrons among the spectators. 1 

In the Thesmophoric festivals, which celebrated 
the carrying away of Persephone, the daughter 
of Demeter, to the lower world by Pluto, women, 
who alone were allowed to participate, made 
cakes of sesame and honey, in the shape of the 
pudenda muliebria, and handed them around to be 
eaten; and made sacred cakes in the shape of 
serpents and phalli, to be thrown into the cavern 
through which Persephone was supposed to have 
been carried into the lower world, in symboliza- 
tion of the productivity of the earth and man. 

It may be said that the theological doctrines of 
the heathen justified and sanctified the sensual 
excitement that arose in connection with the close 
natural relationship between the two classes of 
feeling, and are themselves evidences of that 
relationship. 

Now let us take into consideration the fact that 
the theological and ethical doctrines of Christian- 

*De Civitate Dei, Book vii., Chap. 21. 



Natural Causes of Conversion 115 

ity were very decidedly opposed to any mingling 
of the reproductive impulses with the religious 
feelings. If, then, those impulses be found in 
connection with the ecstasies of the Christian, 
it will be a confirmation of the hypothesis that 
the former may contribute to the exaltation of 
the latter. The Beghards and Beguines, or the 
Brethren and Sisters of Free Spirit, a fraternity of 
Christian people, the origin of which is obscure, 
was found throughout Italy, France, and Ger- 
many in the thirteenth century. They held that 
all things flowed from God, by emanation, and 
were finally to return to their divine source; that 
rational souls were so many portions of the supreme 
Deity; that by long and assiduous meditation 
they obtained a most glorious and sublime liberty, 
and were freed from the obligation of all laws, 
human and divine. They asserted that the pro- 
pensities and passions which arise in the soul of 
the divine man, after his union with deity, are 
the propensities and affections of God himself, 
and are therefore holy. To many men and 
women this was, no doubt, a pure and elevat- 
ing speculation, but it led them, at last, to practise 
the most scandalous impurity. They held secret 
assemblies at night, stark naked, and lay in the 
same beds with spiritual sisters, or indiscriminately 
with other women, without the smallest scruple 
or hesitation. 

The Flagellants. Flagellation, as a voluntary 



n6 History of Religious Feeling 

penance, was practised in the church at an early 
day, but did not become prevalent till the end of 
the eleventh century. In the thirteenth century 
fraternities were formed for the purpose of practis- 
ing flagellation as a public religious observance. 
Multitudes of persons, of both sexes and of all 
ranks and ages, ran through the streets of the 
cities and in the highways of the country with 
whips in their hands, lashing their naked bodies, 
drawing the blood, as with sighs and tears 
they sang penitential psalms, and cried to 
God for mercy. Roving bands propagated the 
enthusiasm throughout southern and western 
Europe. 

The effects of the flagellation and of the ecstatic 
excitement on the conduct of the flagellants 
became, at last, so scandalous, that the civil and 
ecclesiastical authorities were constrained to 
suppress the fraternities, and forbid the practice. 
It is known that the superficial irritation in cer- 
tain parts, produced by flagellation, will excite the 
neighboring organs. It is used for this purpose 
by persons of a cold temperament, and by those 
who have been exhausted by excesses. For these 
effects of flagellation, and the statement that they 
led to the prohibition of the observance, Dr. 
Kraff t-Ebing shall be our authority. He says : — 

The following facts, from the lives of the two 
heroines of flagellation, Maria Magdalena of Pazzi and 



Natural Causes of Conversion 117 

Elizabeth of Genton, clearly show the significance of 
flagellation as a sexual excitement. The former, the 
child of distinguished parents, was a Carmelite nun 
in Florence (about 1580), and, by flagellation, and 
still more through the results of it, became quite 
celebrated, and is mentioned in the Annals. It was 
her greatest delight to have the prioress bind her 
hands behind her and have herself whipped on 
the naked loins in the presence of the assembled 
sisters. 

But the whippings, continued from her earliest 
youth, quite destroyed her nervous system, and 
perhaps no other heroine of flagellation had so many 
hallucinations ("Entziickungen"). While being 
whipped her thoughts were of love. The inner fire 
threatened to consume her, and she frequently cried, 
11 Enough: Fan no longer the flame that consumes 
me. This is not the death I long for ; it comes with all 
too much pleasure and delight. ,, Thus it continued. 
But the spirit of impurity wove the most sensual, 
lascivious fancies, and she was several times near 
losing her chastity. 

It was the same with Elizabeth Genton. As a re- 
sult of whipping she actually passed into a state of 
bacchanalian madness. As a rule, when, excited 
by unusual flagellation, she believed herself united 
with her " ideal." This condition was so exquisitely 
pleasant to her that she would frequently cry out, 
" O love, O eternal love, love, O you creatures, cry 
out with me, love, love." 

These sects were at first favored by the Church; 
but, since sensuality was only excited the more by 
flagellation, and as the fact became more and more 



n8 History of Religious Feeling 

apparent in unpleasant occurrences, the Church was 
finally compelled to oppose it. 1 

Marie de V Incarnation. Marie Guyard, who 
was born at Tours in France, Oct. 18, 1599, was 
married, at the desire of her parents, in her eigh- 
teenth year. Her marriage proved to be an un- 
happy one, but without fault on either side, it is 
said. At the end of two years her husband died, 
leaving her with an infant son. She gave the child 
to the charge of her sister, and abandoned herself 
to solitude and meditation. Love for her child 
withheld her, for a long time, from becoming a 
nun; but at last, fortified by her confessor, she 
left the child to his fate, took the vows, and im- 
mured herself with the Ursulines of Tours, under 
the name of Marie de 1' Incarnation. In a dream 
she beheld a lady, who taking her hand led her on 
a journey toward the sea. They soon met one 
of the apostles, clothed all in white who, with a 
wave of the hand directed them on their way. 
They now entered a scene of surpassing magnifi- 
cence ; but the two travellers, without stopping to 
admire, moved swiftly on, till they beheld the 
Virgin, seated with her infant son, on a small 
temple of white marble, which served her as a 
throne. She seemed about fifteen years old, and 
was of a "ravishing beauty." Her head was 
turned aside; she was gazing on a wild waste of 

1 Psychopathia Sexualia, p. 29. 



Natural Causes of Conversion 119 

mountains and valleys, half concealed in mist. 
Marie approached, with outstretched arms, ador- 
ing. The vision bent toward her and smiling, 
kissed her three times; whereupon, the dreamer 
awoke in a rapture. She told the vision to 
Father Dinet, a Jesuit of Tours, who was at no 
loss for an interpretation. The land of mist and 
mountains was Canada, and thither the Virgin 
called her. Marie de la Peltrie, who, after reading 
the Revelations of Lejeune, had resolved to build 
a house, in honor of St. Joseph in Canada, and 
give her life and wealth to the instruction of 
Indian girls, happening to visit the convent at 
Tours, was recognized, on the instant, by Marie 
de T Incarnation as the lady of her vision. On the 
fourth of May, 1639, Madame de la Peltrie, Marie 
de 1' Incarnation, Marie de St. Bernard, and an- 
other Ursuline, embarked at Dieppe for Canada. 
They arrived at Quebec on the fifteenth of July, 
fell prostrate, and kissed the sacred soil of Canada. 
A massive convent of stone was built at Sillery, 
four miles above Quebec, and there Marie de 
I' Incarnation and her nuns instructed the Indian 
children in the truths of salvation. 

Dreams, visions, interior voices, ecstasies, 
revulsions, periods of rapture, and periods of 
deep dejection, made up the agitated tissues of 
the life of Marie de T Incarnation. She fasted, 
wore hair cloth, and scourged herself. She heard, 
in a trance, a miraculous voice, the voice of Christ 



120 History of Religious Feeling 

promising to become her spouse. Months and 
years passed, full of troubled hopes and fears; when 
the voice sounded again in her ear, with the as- 
surance that the promise was fulfilled, and that 
she was indeed his bride. Now ensued phenomena 
which are not infrequent among Roman Catholic 
devotees, when unmarried or married unhappily, 
and which have their sources in the necessities 
of a woman's nature. To her excited thought 
her divine spouse became a living presence; and 
her language to him, as recorded by herself, is 
that of the most intense passion. 

my love, when shall I embrace you. Have you 
no pity on me, in the torments that I suffer? Alas! 
Alas! my Love, my Beauty, my Life! instead of 
healing my pain, you take pleasure in it. Come, 
let me embrace you, and die in your sacred arms. — 
Then, as I was spent with fatigue, I was forced to say, 
"My divine Love, since you wish me to live, I pray 
you let me rest a little, that I may the better serve 
you"; and I promised him that, afterward, I would 
suffer myself to consume in his chaste and divine em- 
brace. Clearly here [says Mr. Parkman] is a case 
for the physiologist as well as the theologian; and 
the "holy widow," as her biographers call her, be- 
comes an example, and a lamentable one, of the 
tendency of the erotic principle to ally itself with high 
religious excitement. 

As the years went on, her rapturous visions 
ceased, or became less frequent. Becoming supe- 



Natural Causes of Conversion 121 

rior of the convent, she was racked with anxieties 
and burdened with cares. There were dissensions 
to be healed, money to be provided, and a vast 
correspondence to be carried on, which caused 
her to fall into a condition, described by her 
biographers, as a "deprivation of all spiritual con- 
solation, " and she herself speaks of her life 
as a succession of crosses and humiliations; but 
she displayed, throughout it all, an ability and 
fortitude that commanded respect and admiration. 
The religious enthusiast became one of the most 
energetic and practical of women in the manage- 
ment of affairs. The change occurred after she 
had passed her fortieth year, and, no doubt, after 
the fountain of life within her had ceased to over- 
flow, with its natural feeings, into the streams of 
religious emotion. 1 

The Sect of Christs in Russia. This sect be- 
lieves that every person contains, or may contain, 
a portion of the divinity, and is worthy of adora- 
tion. It is amid dancing and sobbing, they 
believe, that the Holy Spirit descends. A wild 
and giddy dance begins at midnight, after long 
hours of prayers and psalm singing, and religious 
discussion; then the Christs arise. Both men 
and women remove all their garments and put 
on long white shirts and white cotton stockings; 
candles are lighted and, after singing a monoton- 

1 The Jesuits in North America, Francis Parkman, pp. 174- 
186. 



122 History of Religious Feeling 

ous chant, a few begin to leap and dance. Gradu- 
ally others join, and they beat time with their 
feet, the men in the direction of the sun, and the 
women in the opposite direction, Their move- 
ments increase in rapidity, and their sobs become 
more violent. Each Christ begins to revolve, 
the men to the right and the women to the left, 
with such rapidity that the faces cannot be dis- 
tinguished. They leap, they contort themselves, 
they run after one another, and they flagellate one 
another. In the midst of mad laughter, of cries 
and sobs, loud shouts are heard, "It is coming! 
It is coming! The Holy Spirit is coming !" 
Then the excitement of this strange dance 
macabre, of these shouting, half -naked, white gar- 
mented figures, begins to culminate. Men and 
women tear off their garments, go about on all 
fours, ride on one another's backs, and give way 
to sexual erethism, which had been exalted to the 
highest point. At their religious ceremonies, 
some strong, beautiful, and intelligent young 
woman is often chosen for special adoration as the 
personification of divinity, and the emblem of 
generative force. They call her the Virgin Mary, 
and they identify her with the earth-goddess. 
She is their priestess, and they prostrate them- 
selves before her. Among the Skoptsy, a sect 
related to the Christs, the same observances and 
the same worship of woman are carried to a 
still higher point. They sometimes worship a 



Natural Causes of Conversion 123 

naked young girl, cover her with kisses, and when 
she has reached the necessary pitch of exaltation, 
she allows them to communicate in her blood. 1 

Dr. Antsie has said: 

I know of no fact in pathology, more striking and 
more terrifying, than the way in which the phenomena 
of the ecstatic state, which have often been recognized 
by sentimental theorists, as proofs of spiritual exalta- 
tion, may be seen to bridge the gulf between the 
fooleries of ordinary hysteric patients and the de- 
graded and repulsive phenomena of nymphomania 
and satyriasis. 2 

Revivalists are accustomed to urge upon the 
unconverted young immediate decision, for the 
reason that very few are converted after the age 
of forty, the implication being that God withdraws 
his renewing action from the soul as a penalty for 
the long continued resistance to the solicitations 
of his Spirit. They do not mistake the fact upon 
which their warning is based ; but they fail to take 
account of the large contribution which the phy- 
sical and mental conditions of youth, from the 
twelfth to the twentieth year of their age, make 
to the result. Several psychologists have lately 
been making an effort to get a correct estimate of 
the amount of this contribution. Their method 

1 Man and Woman, Havelock Ellis, pp. 290-291. 

2 Lectures on the Diseases of the Nervous System, Lancet, Jan. 
1873. 



124 History of Religious Feeling 

has been to send out questions to a large number 
of converted persons, asking their age at conver- 
sion and the circumstances of their conversion. 
One has ascertained that out of 253 conversions, 
135 occurred before the age of 20; 85 between the 
ages of 20 and 30; 4 between 40 and 50; and I 
between 60 and 70. Another found that in no 
cases reported, the average age of conversion was 
— for boys, 15.4 years; for girls, 14.6 years. It 
was ascertained, from the reports of 526 officers 
of the Young Men's Christian Association of the 
United States and the British Provinces, that 
the average age at conversion was 16.4 years. 
It appears that not one of the conversions, of 
which we have given account in the Appendix, 
occurred after middle life. Prof. Starbuck, of 
the Leland Stanford, Jr., University, ascertained 
from 1265 answers to his questions (524 being 
from females and ion from males, 776 of 
the males being alumni of the Drew Theological 
Seminary) that conversions began at 7 or 8 years 
of age, increased gradually up to 10 or n, then 
increased rapidly up to 16, after which there was 
rapid decrease to the 22 year. He has given a 
summary of his results in the following diagram- 
matic representation. 

He calls attention to the fact that there are 
three peaks in the male line ; one at 12 years of age, 
with 16 conversions (the proportion starting with 



Natural Causes of Conversion 125 



unity); another at 16, with 40 conversions; and 
the third at 19, with 26 conversions. There are 
also three peaks in the female line; one at 13 
years, with 35 conversions; another at 16, with 
39 conversions; and another at 18, with 25 con- 
versions. In discussing the reason of the facts 
thus appearing he says: "It has long been recog- 
nized that the beginning of adolescence is a period 

No. 



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27 
24 
21 
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6 6 7 8 9 



10 II 1.2 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 2J 22 23 24 25 
YEARS 
•Males. -Females. 



of rapid physiological transformation. The voice 
changes, the beard sprouts, the proportions of the 
head are altered, that of the arteries decreases, 
the blood-pressure is heightened, and, central 
among the changes, are those in the reproductive 
system, which make the child into the man or 
woman. The amount of carbonic acid in the 
breath is greatly increased, showing the increment 
in the processes which tear down and build up the 



126 History of Religious Feeling 



system. Both boys and girls increase faster in 
height and weight than at any other period of life. x 

Professor Coe, of Northwestern University, 
found from the reports of 84 men that the average 
age at conversion was 15.4 years, which he says is 
only 0.3 of a year below Starbuck's average, and 
within 1 year of the highest average reached in 
any group yet reported. He found the average 
age of the conversion of 272 members of the Rock 
River Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church to be 16.4 years; and that the largest 
number were converted at 16. Only thirteen 
per cent, were converted under 12, and only 
sixteen per cent, after 20. 

Exhibiting in one table the results reached by 
examining all these different groups, we have the 
following very striking statistics. 

AGE OF CONVERSION OR DECISIVE AWAKENING OF 1 764 MEN 





Cases 
Examined 


Average 
Age 


Graduates of Drew Seminary 


776 

526 

5i 

75 

272 

84 


16.4 


Y. M. C. A. Officers 


16.5 
15-7 
16.3 
16.4 
15-4 


Starbuck's Conversion Cases 


Starbuck's Cases of Spontaneous Awakening 

Members of Rock River Conference 

My Own Cases of Decisive Awakening .... 


Total 


1784 


16.4 







x The Psychology of Religion, by Edwin Diller Starbuck, Ph.D. 
PP- 37-38. 



Natural Causes of Conversion 127 

If now, this average age of greatest religious awak- 
ening be compared with the age of accession to 
puberty, the conclusion will be sufficiently convincing 
that the mental unturning that accompanies the 
physical transformation is peculiarly favorable to a 
life decision in the matter of religion. 

Upon the obtaining a second experience, Pro- 
fessor Coe says: 

I made a definite inquiry on this point. The 
result is a group of 51 men who experienced what 
is variously styled by them sanctification, perfect 
sanctification, etc., this term in every case signifying 
a more or less definite experience succeeding con- 
version or the decisive awakening. 

These experiences are distributed as follows: 

Age 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 2425262728 

Second Experience 200044 n 14 45 2 2 1 1 01 

The curve which might be drawn to represent these 
proportions would give a premonition of itself at 13 
(the first period of adolescent awakening), start in at 
17 (the second period), reach a decided maximum at 
20 (the third period) , and then rapidly fall away. 

All of this goes to show that religious tendencies 
are a most important feature of general adolescent 
development. When the approaching change first 
heralds itself the religious consciousness also tends to 
awaken. Again, when the bodily life is in most rapid 
transition the religious instincts likewise come into 
a new and greater life. Finally, when the fermenta- 
tion of youth begins to settle into the calmness of 



128 History of Religious Feeling 

maturity, once more religion makes its claim to be 
counted in the life. 1 

It is a striking fact that the average age of 
conversion is 16.4 years for males; and 14.8 for 
females: and that the average age of puberty is 
15.6 years for males, and 13.8 for females, the 
difference being 0.8 of a year in the one case, and 1 
year in the other. This, together with the almost 
exact difference between the average age of con- 
version and that of puberty in the two cases, 1.6 
years in the one case, and 1.8 years in the other 
is almost conclusive evidence of a causal connec- 
tion between the two events. 

Psychologists are now generally agreed in re- 
cognizing this connection. The agreement is too 
wide-spread on the continent of Europe, in Britain, 
and America, to be attributed to a sinister desire 
to attach an unpleasant association to the subject 
of experimental religion. The discovery of that 
connection does not effect a reduction in our 
estimate of the value of religious emotion, any 
more than the discovery that the stem of the water 
lily is slimy and that its roots are in the ooze 
reduces our sense of the sweetness and beauty 
of the flower. To the physiological botanist the 
slime on the stem and the ooze at its roots are no 

1 Spiritual Life. Studies in the Science of Religion, by George 
A. Coe, Ph.D. John Evans Professor of Moral and Intellectual 
Philosophy in Northwestern University, pp. 41-46. 



Natural Causes of Conversion 129 

less interesting in their cellular structure than that 
of the petals, and do not manifest less clearly the 
Creator's wisdom and goodness. 1 

1 Psychologists are maintaining that the causal influence of 
this feeling is general. 

Prof. Starbuck says that one of his students, in an unpublished 
research, has found that the recognition of the rights of others 
by children has a sudden increment at about the age of puberty. 
He quotes Dr. E. H. Lindley as having ascertained that the puzzle 
interest of children culminates sharply at 12 and declines rapidly 
after that; also Mrs. Mary Sheldon Barnes, as having ascer- 
tained that the ability of boys to make proper inferences from a 
historical incident increases rapidly at 12, falls at 13, and rises 
again at 14; also, a research by two of his students, in which it 
was ascertained that the ability of children to make an abstract 
of a picture, after having seen it for a short interval, shows a 
definite improvement at 12, a falling off at 13, and a still greater 
improvement at 14. The three curves for conversion, proper 
inference and abstract interpretation, and graphical representa- 
tion, are nearly parallel from 11 to 15 years of age. 

Prof. Arthur H. Daniels says: "The ethical perceptions are 
intensified, no doubt, by the influence of the reproductive or- 
gans. As Clouston says, 'The powers and instincts that make 
for the continuance of the race, strengthen every other power 
and faculty at that period of life (adolescence).' The sense of 
seriousness and responsibility of life is first aroused by them. 
The sense of right and wrong, good and evil, is by them kindled 
into strength enough to guide the conduct. Shame, modesty, 
chivalry, self-denial, tenderness, and a host of other virtues and 
essential social graces are founded in them. The highest moral 
qualities, the keenest yearnings after the good, the intensest 
hatred and scorn of evil, are not to be found in a-sexual men and 
women." — American Journal of Psychology, vi., 86. 

9 



CHAPTER V 
The Psychology of Emotion 

i. The Nature and Purpose of Emotion. 

Emotion is a pleasurable or painful feeling which 
attends all the experiences of animate creatures, 
and incites to all their actions. 

All emotions are teleological : serving a purpose 
in the economy of life, not one being an end in 
itself. No one will try to maintain that a pain- 
ful emotion is an end in itself, and no one can 
maintain that a pleasurable one is such an end. 

The two primary ends to which emotion is 
made to serve as means are: I. the preservation 
and elevation of the individual, 2. the perpetua- 
tion and elevation of the race. Prof. Alexander 
Bain's statement of the one end is: "States of 
pleasure are connected with an increase; and 
states of pain, with an abatement, of some or all 
of the vital functions. " * 

Ribot's statement is: "The sentient being, 
man or animal, is a bundle of needs, of appetites, 

* Senses and Intellect, p. 281. 

130 



The Psychology of Emotion 131 

of physical and psychic tendencies; everything 
that suppresses that, is translated into pain. 
Everything that facilitates or promotes it is 
translated into pleasure.'' J 

2. The Source of Emotion. It is generally 
accepted as a fact, that "no mental modification 
ever occurs that is not accompanied or followed 
by a bodily change." 3 

The question has been raised, whether the 
emotion causes the excitation of the bodily me- 
chanism ; or whether the bodily mechanism, being 
first excited, produces the emotion. Psycholo- 
gists, since they have begun to seek their facts, 
not from introspection alone, but in the field of 
experimental investigation, have been constrained 
to adopt the latter hypothesis. Prof. James, of 
Harvard University, was the first to announce the 
fact. He says: 

The general causes of emotion are indubitably 
physiological . . . Our natural way of thinking is, that 
the mental perception of some facts excite the mental 
affections, called emotion; and that this latter state 
of mind gives rise to bodily expression. My theory, 
on the contrary, is that the bodily changes follow 
directly the perception of the existing fact, and that 
the feeling of the same changes, as they occur, is the 
emotion. 

Every one of the bodily changes, whatever it be, 

1 The Psychology of the Emotions, p. 47. 

2 Principles of Psychology, by William James, i., 5. 



132 History of Religious Feeling 

is felt, acutely or obscurely, the moment it occurs. . . 
If we fancy some strong emotion, and then try to 
abstract, from our consciousness of it, all the feelings 
of its bodily symptoms, we find that we have nothing 
left behind, no "mind stuff," out of which the emotion 
can be constituted, and that a cold and neutral state 
of intellectual perception is all that remains. . . A 
purely disembodied emotion is a nonentity. 1 

Prof. C. Lange, of Copenhagen, a little after 
the publication of Prof. James's theory, an- 
nounced the following as his conclusion, the 
result of a study entirely independent of that 
of Prof. James: 

It is to the vaso-motor organism that we owe the 
whole emotional side of our soul-life, our joys and 
sorrows, our happy and our unhappy hours. If the 
impressions that strike our senses had not the strength 
to set that system into action, we should wander 
through life disinterested and painless ; the impressions 
from the outer world would enrich our experience and 
increase our knowledge, but they would wake in us 
neither joy nor anger; and could not move us either 
to grief or to fear. 

Let us therefore get rid of that useless hypothesis 
of a psychic enity called emotion, supposed to be 
intercalated between the perception or idea, and the 
physiological occurrences. Reversing the order, ad- 
mitted by common-sense, we say: first, an intellectual 
state, the organic and motor disturbances, and then 

1 Principles of Psychology, ii., 449-452. 



The Psychology of Emotion 133 

the consciousness of these disturbances, which is the 
psychic state we call emotion. ... As usually stated, 
the order is this: intellectual state, affective state, 
organic states. According to the physiological hypo- 
theses, the order is as follows: intellectual state, 
organic states, affective state. A disembodied emo- 
tion is a non-existent one. 1 

It is conceivable, that if the head could be removed 
from the body at will, the brain could perform a 
mathematical calculation. It is no longer possible to 
believe that it could feel anger or love, or any other 
emotion, save in the most remote and intellectualized 
form. 2 

By experiment on the lower animals it 
has been shown that all the manifestations 
of emotion may be called forth in the absence 
of the cerebral hemispheres, the organs of 
consciousness. 

Among the evidences that emotion has its origin 
in the bodily condition may be mentioned: 1. 
The effect of what is called co-enesthesia, that 
high tone of general unlocalized feeling, which is 
enjoyed when the body is in perfect health; the 
source of the sense of enjoyment in activity mani- 
fested in the uneconomical expenditure of force, 
the running, leaping, climbing, and throwing, by 
youth; and the frisking of young animals. 2. 
The effects of wine, opium, and hashish on the 

1 The Psychology of the Emotions, Th. Ribot, pp. 107. 

2 Man and Woman, Havelock Ellis, p. 298. 



134 History of Religious Feeling 

emotions; an effect which comes solely from their 
action on the tissues and organs of the body. 
3. The effect on the emotions of morbid bodily 
conditions, such as derangements of the stomach, 
liver, and brain. 4. The fact that those actions 
and postures of the body which are the natural 
expressions of emotion, if purposely accomplished 
in the absence of emotion, will excite emotion. 
Dancing is the expression of exhilaration, but it 
will also cause exhilaration. To sit for any length 
of time in a melancholy posture will cause a de- 
pression of the spirits. By being in cheerful so- 
ciety, and acting as it does, one becomes cheerful. 
If the arm of a hypnotized person be placed in a 
threatening attitude with clenched fists, he will 
have the emotion of anger; if in an attitude of 
loving embrace, he will have the emotion of love; 
if in the attitude of prayer, he will have devout 
emotions. 5. The fact that an emotion cannot 
be recalled in the memory. The sensation, the 
perception, the conception, the idea, in connection 
with which the emotion first occurred, may be 
recalled, and that will produce the bodily modi- 
fication, which will reproduce the emotion. At 
the revival of the idea, Prof. James says: "Quick 
as flash, the reflex currents pass down through 
the preordained channels, alter the condition of 
muscle, skin, and viscus; and these alterations 
perceived, like the original object, combine with 
it in consciousness and transform it, from an 



The Psychology of Emotion 135 

object simply apprehended, into an object emo- 
tionally felt." 1 

Now, if this be the natural order, it follows that 
the presentation of religious truth and the con- 
ception of its relation to the personal interest, 
present and future, will, by a natural process, 
produce religious emotion, the intensity of which 
will vary with the force of the presentation, the 
vividness of the conception, and the impressive- 
ness of the circumstances. But that religious 
emotion which is produced by natural causes is 
not regarded as "gracious," the kind of emotion 
that attends the mental acts which make a man 
a Christian. It is supposed that the emotion 
which is effective to this end must be miraculous, 
produced by direct divine action on the soul. 

If this supposition be accepted, the question 
remains: Where does the miraculous agency 
break into the natural order? For what part of 
the natural process does it become a substitute? 
It may be supposed to come in at any one of 
the various stages of the natural order. 1. It 
may produce the emotion by an immediate crea- 
tion of it, in connection with naturally occurring 
ideas, without exciting any of those bodily dis- 
turbances which ordinarily cause the emotion. 
2. It may miraculously excite the disturbance 
in the physical apparatus, which, transmitted by 
the natural process to the nervous centres, would 

1 Principles of Psychology, ii., 474. 



136 History of Religious Feeling 

be the emotion. 3. It may miraculously pro- 
duce the idea or conception, which would, by the 
natural process, cause the disturbance in the 
physical apparatus, which, being transmitted by 
natural process to the nervous centre, would 
become the emotion. No one believes that the 
idea from which the religious emotion springs is 
miraculously given. It is received from the 
Bible or other religious book, from a tract, from 
an address in public, or from the suggestion of a 
friend in private. The miracle, therefore, if it 
occur, must be either a disturbance of the physical 
apparatus or an immediate production of the 
emotion. In either case the divine action would 
be beyond the reach of human observation. 
Moreover, a single miraculous interposition at 
any one of the stages of the process, would not 
be sufficient to produce the supposed result of 
conversion, a permanent change of character. 
The production of such a change would require a 
repetition of the miracle at every moment in the 
life; but conversion is held to be a momentary 
change, not a continuous miracle. Change of 
character, if consequent upon a miracle, is conse- 
quent upon regeneration, a work which, according 
to our Lord's statement, unlike conversion, takes 
place no man knows when or how. 

Character is determined by the perceptions and 
conceptions, and by the order they take; by the 
course of thought, and the order of succession in 



The Psychology of Emotion 137 

that course. The thoughts, unless interrupted by 
miracle, follow one another in a chain of natural 
connection, as irrefragible as the chain of cause 
and effect in the material world. We have no 
power ourselves to break that chain. We can 
modify its movements only by a selective atten- 
tion to particular links in it. Now it is just as 
conceivable that God, in his immanence, could 
exert such a modifying influence upon that chain, 
swaying it, without breaking it, as that we our- 
selves can do so, and thus, by a real divine agency, 
change the character of the man. But that 
would be a providential, not a miraculous agency, 
and would not be within the cognizance of the 
subject. 



CHAPTER VI 

Changes in Character and Life from 
Natural Causes 

\X/E shall have to admit that, in many cases, 
V V the experience of conversion is followed 
by a change in conduct, and an apparent change 
in character: we cannot, however, accept the 
change as, itself, evidence of its supernatural ori- 
gin, since similar changes have been brought about 
by known natural causes. Morbid physical condi- 
tions have produced the most remarkable changes 

in character. A young man, Louis V , had 

led an irregular life, in the army, in hospitals, and 
in houses of correction: at the age of eighteen, 
at an agricultural house of correction, he was 
bitten by a viper, which brought on a convulsive 
crisis and left both legs paralyzed for three years. 
While in this condition, he was gentle, moral, and 
industrious. Suddenly, after a long convulsive 
seizure, his paralysis disappeared, and with it, 
all memory of the time it had endured and his 
character also changed. In the one state, he was 
gentle, polite, silent, sober, and of almost child- 
138 



Life-Changes from Natural Causes 139 

like timidity; in the other, talkative, arrogant, 
violent, brutal, insubordinate, a thief, and ready- 
to kill any one who gave him an order. When 
paralyzed on the right side, his character was 
intolerable: when the paralysis was transferred to 
the left side, his character was reversed. 1 

Mary Reynolds, a dull and melancholy young 
woman, dwelling in the wilderness of Pennsylvania 
in 181 1, was found one morning, long after her 
habitual time of rising, in a profound sleep, from 
which it was impossible to arouse her. After 
eighteen or twenty hours of sleeping she awakened, 
but in an unnatural state of consciousness: 
memory had fled; she could pronounce but a few 
words, and they seemed not to be connected with 
any ideas in her mind. Her parents, her brothers 
and sisters, were not recognized; the house, the 
fields, the forest, the hills, the vales, and streams 
were all strange to her. She had to be taught 
again to read and write. One of the noteworthy 
phenomena in her case was the change in her 
character. Before, she was melancholy, and now 
cheerful; before, reserved, taciturn, retiring, now 
buoyant, social, merry, and jocose. Enamored 
with the forests, hills, vales, and streams, she 
would start in the morning, either on foot or on 
horseback, and ramble over the country till 
night-fall, choosing mostly the tractless forest. 

1 M. M. Bourru and Burot, cited by Profs. James and 
Ribot. 



140 History of Religious Feeling 

She was without fear. One evening, on her return, 
she said: 

"As I was riding to-day along a narrow path, a great 
black hog came out of the woods and stopped before 
me. I never saw such an impudent hog before. It 
stood up on its hind feet and grinned and gnashed its 
teeth at me. I could not make the horse go on. I 
told him that he was a fool to be frightened at a hog ; 
and I tried to whip him past, but he would not go, and 
tried to turn back. I told the hog to get out of the 
way, but he did not mind me. 'Well,' said I, 'if 
you won't for words, I '11 try blows.' So I got off and 
took a stick and walked toward it. When I got close 
by, it got down on all fours and walked slowly and 
sullenly, stopping every few steps and looking back 
and grinning and growling. Then I got on my 
horse and rode on." 

She continued in this condition for five weeks, 
when one morning after a protracted sleep, she awoke 
and was herself again. The memory of her previous 
life returned, and the interval between her first and 
last long sleep was a blank. Her new character dis- 
appeared and the old one returned. In a few weeks, 
the abnormal condition returned and gave place to 
the normal condition. These alternations from one 
state to another continued, at intervals of varying 
length, for fifteen or sixteen years, and finally ceased, 
when she had attained the age of thirty-five or thirty- 
six. But her second state was the one that became 
permanent. In this she remained, without change, 
for the last twenty-five years of her life. Several of 
those years were spent in teaching school, in which 



Life-Changes from Natural Causes 141 

occupation she was a general favorite with old and 
young. x 

Ribot, speaking of this and similar cases, says: 
"Here the connection between the affective 
disposition and the somatic state is quite clear, 
and seems to be referable to trophoneurosis of 
the brain." 2 

Bourru and Burot, speaking of the case of 

Louis V , say: "The law of these changes is 

quite clear. There exists a precise, constant, and 
necessary relation between the bodily and the 
mental state, such that it is impossible to modify 
the one without modifying the other in parallel 
fashion." 

There have been, however, sudden and great 
changes in character and life in persons who were 
not affected with any morbid or abnormal condi- 
tion of the body. Mr. Harold Begbie has written 
a book entitled Twice-born ^Men, in which he 
narrates the conversion of nine of the worst 
characters in the slums of London. They were 
persons who from their childhood up had never 
been subject to any religious influence: they were 

1 Dr. Weir Mitchell, Transactions of the College of Physicians of 
Philadelphia, April 4, 1888. Cited by Prof. James, Psychology, i., 
381. The history of her case was communicated to Dr. Mitchell 
by the Rev. Dr. John V. Reynolds, of Meadsville, Pa., her nephew, 
with whom she lived during the last twenty-five years of her life, 
part of that time as his housekeeper, showing a sound judgment 
and a thorough knowledge of the duties of her position. 

2 Psychology of the Emotions, p. 451. 



142 History of Religious Feeling 

drunkards, vicious, criminal. The conversions 
all occurred suddenly, while the subject was 
kneeling at the penitent form at a meeting in a 
hall of the Salvation Army. Nothing of the 
thought or feeling of the penitent, while kneeling, 
nor of the time spent at the form, is given ; but 
the change that took place in those moments was 
great and permanent. The person who has been 
"consciously wrong, inferior, and unhappy, be- 
comes consciously right, superior, and happy. " 
The greatness, the permanence of the change, and 
the suddenness of its occurrence are taken as 
decisive evidence of its miraculous character. 
There are facts, however, which show that this 
conclusion does not follow of necessity from the 
facts alleged. 

Diogenes was in his youth a spendthrift and a 
rake, probably of so bad a reputation that An- 
tisthenes, the philosopher of Athens, rejected 
again and again his application to become a pupil. 
Yet he became the most noted character of an- 
tiquity for his contempt of the splendors and 
pleasures of the world. 

The Roman Emperor, Diocletian, the cruel 
persecutor of the Christians, after twenty-one 
years of imperial reign and warlike enterprise, 
abdicated the throne, retired to his native pro- 
vince Dalmatia, and for eight years devoted him- 
self to philosophic meditation and horticultural 
pursuits. An ideal which had been held long in 



Life-Changes from Natural Causes 143 

abeyance was brought into active power by the 
failure of some of his cherished governmental 
projects and produced a marked conversion. 

St. Francis of Assisi (1226) was a gay and 
dissolute spendthrift for twenty-five years of his 
life ; he engaged eagerly in the exercises of chivalry 
and arms; and was generous as well as prodigal. 
In one of the feuds of the time, he was taken 
prisoner and was held in captivity a year at 
Perugia. During his captivity, he was taken 
with an illness, which turned his thoughts from 
earth to heaven, but without any marked results. 
He returned to his former military pursuits, and 
was again taken with an illness, which threatened 
his life; and after this illness he became a new 
man. He devoted himself to poverty, which he 
called his bride. He made a pilgrimage to the 
tomb of St. Peter at Rome, and there offered to 
God all that he possessed on earth. He appro- 
priated not only his own wealth to the sacred 
cause, but that which belonged to his father; 
and, to escape his father's anger, he took refuge 
in a cave and spent a month in solitary prayer. 
He formally renounced his inheritance, saying 
that, till now he had been the son of Bernardini, 
but that henceforth he would have but one father, 
him that is in heaven. He begged at the gates 
of monasteries ; performed the most menial offices ; 
served the lepers in the hospital at Gubbio with 
the most tender assiduity; threw aside his wallet, 



144 History of Religious Feeling 

his staff, and his shoes, and arrayed himself in a 
single tunic of coarse woollen cloth girt with 
hempen cord. Two years before he died (Sep- 
tember 17, 1224), while he was at prayer at Monte 
Averno, an ecstasy came upon him, in which 
Christ on the cross appeared to him in a vision, 
and so overwhelmed him that the bleeding wounds 
of his Lord appeared in his own side, his hands, 
and his feet. 

Raymond Sulli (1233-13 15) at first led a dis- 
solute life but, in the midst of it, a revelation by 
one of his mistresses caused a sudden and complete 
change in the course of his life. He withdrew 
into solitude, where he experienced the highest 
religious ecstasies. The whole of his after life 
was spent in labors and sufferings for the cause of 
Christ, and he died a martyr to his zeal for the 
conversion of the Mohammedans, being stoned to 
death by the inhabitants of Rugia in Northern 
Africa. 

In any rational explanation of the changes, we 
must take account of the fact that in all men 
there is what Prof. William James calls a divided 
personality, a condition which the apostle Paul 
describes when he says that "the flesh lusteth 
against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, 
and these are contrary the one to the other." 1 
"The good that I would I do not: but the evil 
which I would not, that I do. Now if I do 

1 Gal. v., 17. 



Life-Changes from Natural Causes 145 

that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but 
sin that dwelleth in me." 1 Prof. James says: 

It makes a great difference to a man whether one 
set of his ideas or another be the centre of his energy ; 
and it is a great difference, as regards any set of ideas 
which he may possess, whether they become central 
or remain peripheral in him. To say that a man is 
"converted" means, in these terms, that religious 
ideas, previously peripheral in his consciousness, now 
take a central place, and that religious aims now form 
the habitual centre of his energy. 

The sudden and explosive ways in which love, 
jealousy, guilt, fear, remorse, or anger can seize upon 
one are known to everybody. Hope, happiness, 
security, resolve, emotions characteristic of conver- 
sion, can be equally explosive. And emotions that 
come in this explosive way seldom leave things as 
they found them." 2 

It is to be observed that nothing is said here 
about the cause of the transfer. From all that 
is said it may be inferred that the transfer, in 
both cases, is supposed to be a purely natural 
occurrence. 

In the cases narrated by Mr. Begbie the univer- 
sal discontent of mankind, which causes them to 
desire to be in some higher state of feeling than 

z Rom. vii., 19, 20. 

2 The Varieties of Religious Experience. The Gifford Lectures 
at Edinburgh, 1902, by William James, LL.D., pp. 196-198. 



146 History of Religious Feeling 

in the one which ordinarily prevails, will also act 
as a natural cause of the change. 

The permanence of the change in these cases 
may be accounted for by the natural effect 
of the influence that comes from the new en- 
vironment. In nearly all cases, a year after 
conversion nothing can be discovered in the 
character which may not be so accounted for. 
Anywhere may be seen the effect of environ- 
ment upon the conduct, and apparently, upon 
the character of men. A boor, deserving to 
maintain a place in refined society, may be a 
model of politeness; a libertine, in association 
with the virtuous, may be a model of pro- 
priety in his conduct. 

Furthermore, there seems to be a correlation 
and transformation of emotions : hysterical crying 
may be followed by laughter; the rebelliousness of 
the child, risen to the highest pitch, may be 
followed by sweet submission. A young man who, 
when resisted in his assault upon a young woman 
in a solitary place, cut her throat and threw her 
body into an adjoining corn-field, said, some time 
before he was hung for the crime, that when he 
found himself successfully resisted, his sexual 
passion entirely left him and a murderous passion 
took possession of him. 

It may be said also that it is hardly in accord 
with the mode of dispensing the divine favors to 
suppose that the great multitude of Christian 



Life-Changes from Natural Causes 147 

people, who never went to excess in vice and crime, 
who all their lives gave equal energy to the 
gratification of the spirit and of the flesh, should 
be left without any of the sensible and percep- 
tible evidence of their having been twice-born 
that are given in conversion. 



CHAPTER VII 
Prophecy and Pentecost 

THE phenomena of insanity, catalepsy, and the 
trance have always been well known; but 
very few have known the natural causes by which 
they are to be explained. To the common mind 
they are mysterious; and, to such a mind, the 
border-land of mystery is the habitation of super- 
natural beings; and there has been a general 
inclination to attribute these phenomena to the 
agency of such beings. 

The phenomena of hypnotism are now equally 
well known, and are equally mysterious. It is cer- 
tainly known that the mind of the subject, while 
in the hypnotic trance, is under the control of the 
mind of the operator ; but whether it be partly by a 
direct mental energy exerted by him or entirely by 
the suggestions he makes, is not yet ascertained. * 

x " You can make the subject think that he is freezing or burning, 
itching, or covered with dirt, or wet; you can make him eat a 
raw potato for a peach, or drink a cup of vinegar for a glass of 
champagne; ammonia will smell to him like cologne water; a 
chair will be a lion, a broom-stick a beautiful woman, a noise in 
the street will be an orchestral music, etc., etc. " — The Principles 
of Psychology, William James, ii., 604. 
148 



Prophecy and Pentecost 149 

It is only in late years that there has been any 
scientific study of hypnotism; and, heretofore, the 
mind of the subject of every trance has been 
supposed to be in possession of a superior spirit 
or of some deity. This, and not the mere pre- 
diction of future events is the distinctive charac- 
teristic of the prophetic state; and there have 
always been prophets in the world, as there have 
always been susceptible persons who occasionally 
fell into the state of trance. No age, or nation, 
or race, has been without its oracles, seers, sooth- 
sayers, fakirs, dervishes, shamans, and medicine 
men. As a general fact, Moses probably ex- 
cepted (Ex. xxxiii., 11, Deut. xxxiv., 10), the 
prophets among the Hebrews spoke in a state 
of trance; but, in several important particulars, 
they were distinguished from all other prophets. 
They claimed that they spoke in the name of the 
one living and true God; they never spoke in the 
name of any other god, nor in the name of an 
angel or an archangel ; and their claim was attested 
by many plain and indisputable facts. They 
wrought miracles and foretold events which were 
so near in the future that there would be immediate 
confirmation or contradiction of the prediction; 
as when Samuel said to Saul, "It shall come to 
pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that 
thou shalt meet a company of prophets, coming 
down from the high place, with a psaltery, and 
a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and 



150 History of Religious Feeling 

they shall prophesy: and the spirit of the Lord 
will come upon thee and thou shalt prophesy 
with them:" signs which came to pass the same 
day that Saul turned his back to go from Samuel. x 
They taught, and exemplified in their lives, the 
strictest morality and the purest religion. They 
never used the power, which people always con- 
cede to those, whom they regard as divinely in- 
spired, for their own aggrandizement : they sought 
no religious or political office; ardently patriotic, 
they essayed to rule the people and to command 
the army only in great emergencies; and they 
left no successors in authority. They espoused 
the cause of the poor and oppressed against 
the rich and powerful: they were almost always 
in opposition, resisting the passions of a stiff- 
necked and rebellious people; they boldly re- 
buked and denounced the kings for their iniquities. 
The one ruling purpose, in them all, was to keep 
their nation from disintegration and dispersion in 
order that the sceptre might not depart from 
Judah; nor a lawgiver from between his feet 
until Shiloh come. 

It is to be remarked that the prophetic state 
was much more rare among the Hebrews than it 
was among other peoples ; only the great patriarchs, 
Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob appear in the 
early history as prophets ; during the seven hund- 
red years B.C. only sixteen appeared whose writ- 

x i Sam. x., 5-9. 



Prophecy and Pentecost 151 

ings are preserved. Moses was at first the only 
prophet in all Israel: it was an extreme necessity 
which brought an extension of the gift to others ; 
and then it was confined to the seventy elders of 
the people. 1 It appears that pretention to the 
prophetic state was not encouraged by credulity, 
but was regarded with suspicion and was restricted 
by regulation. When Eldad and Medad, who 
had not gone with the other elders to the taber- 
nacle to receive the gift, were found prophesying 
in the camp, Joshua complained to Moses of the 
irregularity. (For the severe punitive sanctions 
under which the Hebrew prophet was required to 
speak, see p. 51.) There is no account of a 
prophet having appeared in Israel for nearly four 
hundred years B.C. 

We have to notice the fact, however, that Moses, 
in his reply to Joshua, implies that, in his view, 
the people would be in a more blessed condition 
if they were all prophets. "Enviest thou for my 
sake? Would God that all the Lord's people 
were prophets; and that the Lord would put his 
spirit upon them." We may infer from this 
statement that Moses regarded such a condition 
as possible; but it is remarkable that, while fore- 
telling the coming of the great prophet saying, 
"The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a 
Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, 
like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken," 2 

1 Num. xi., 14-17. 2 Deut. xviii., 15. 



152 History of Religious Feeling 

he said nothing of a time when all of the Lord's 
people should be prophets. Two of the prophets, 
however, speak of that time as yet to come. 
Jeremiah, speaking in the name of the Lord, 
of the new covenant which was to be made with 
the houses of Israel and Judah, says, "They shall 
teach no more every man his neighbor, and every 
man his brother, saying, Know the Lord : for they 
shall all know me, from the least of them unto 
the greatest of them." 1 Joel says, "And it shall 
come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my 
spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your 
daughters shall prophesy, and your old men shall 
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: 
and also upon the servants and upon the hand- 
maids in those days will I pour out my spirit." 2 
An inspired authority tells us that the prophecy 
of Joel was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost ; but 
it was a partial and very meagre fulfilment. Not 
all of the Lord's people, but only a little band 
of disciples, received the outpouring of the Spirit 
on that day. And there are facts which show, 
beyond all question, that the prophecy was 
fulfilled on that day only as a token of a general 
fulfilment which was to take place at some 
future era of the world's history. 

I. There was an unmistakable decline in the 
prophetic gift of the day of Pentecost: on that 
day, each of the apostles possessed all the pro- 

1 Jer. xxxi., 34. 3 Joel ii., 28-29. 



Prophecy and Pentecost 153 

phetic gifts ; but afterwards there was a distribu- 
tion of the gifts. "To one was given the word of 
wisdom; to another, the word of knowledge; to 
another, faith; to another, the gift of healing; 
to another, the working of miracles; to another, 
prophecy; to another, discerning of spirits; to 
another, divers kinds of tongues; to another, the 
interpretation of tongues." 1 

2. There was not only a distribution but 
there was also a deterioration. The gifts came 
to be so exercised as to cause confusion in the 
church and to contribute no longer to edification. 

How is it then, brethren? When ye come together, 
every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath 
a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. 
Let all things be done unto edifying. If any man 
speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at 
most by three, and that by course; and let one inter- 
pret. But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence 
in the church. . . . Let the prophets speak two or three, 
and let the others judge. If any thing be revealed 
to another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace. 
For ye may all prophesy one by one. 2 

The infirmities of human nature began to ap- 
pear in the exercise of the various gifts. The 
more impressive and showy gifts were especially 
desired, and those who possessed them counted 
themselves as superior to those who had only the 
1 1 Cor. xii., 8-10. 2 i Cor. xiv., 26-31. 



154 History of Religious Feeling 

gifts of a more subdued and less conspicuous 
character. Those who had the gift of knowledge 
were puffed up; "knowledge puffeth up." The 
evil had gone so far in the church of Corinth as to 
call for correction by the apostle Paul ; even so far 
as to cause division and schism in the church. 

The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need 
of thee: nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need 
of you. Nay, much more those members of the 
body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 
and those members of the body, which we think to be 
less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant 
honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant 
comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: 
but God hath tempered the body together, having 
given more abundant honor to that part which lacked : 
that there should be no schism in the body. 1 

3. It is remarkable that there is in the history 
so little mention of the appearance of the pen- 
tecostal gifts elsewhere in the church than in 
Corinth. At Ephesus the disciples were ignorant 
of the gift ; and "had not so much as heard whether 
there be any Holy Ghost." When Paul laid his 
hands on them, we are told that "they began to 
speak with tongues and prophesied," but that is 
the only recorded instance of their appearance in 
the church of that city. 2 At Tyre there were 
disciples "who said to Paul, through the Spirit, 

» I Cor. xii., 21-25. a Acts xix., 2-6. 



Prophecy and Pentecost 155 

that he should not go up to Jerusalem." 1 At 
Caesarea, Philip the evangelist "had four daugh- 
ters, virgins, which did prophesy." 2 There Aga- 
bus took Paul's girdle and, while performing 
a symbolic act, "said, Thus saith the Holy 
Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the 
man that owneth this girdle and shall deliver 
him into the hands of the Gentiles." 3 No men- 
tion is made of the appearance of the gift at 
Antioch ; it is only said that prophets came from 
Jerusalem unto Antioch, and that "there stood 
up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the 
spirit that there should be great dearth through- 
out all the world ; which came to pass in the days 
of Claudius Caesar." 4 At the close of Peter's 
address to the company assembled at the house 
of Cornelius in Caesarea, " the Holy Ghost fell 
on all them which heard the word"; and "they 
heard them speak with tongues and magnify 
God." 5 In this case it appears that the Jewish 
believers were so far from expecting the pente- 
costal outpouring to come upon all believers that 
they "were astonished, as many as came with 
Peter, because that, on the Gentiles also, was 
poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. " 6 

4. The pentecostal gifts were not only not 
bestowed on all the people; not only was there 
distribution in the bestowal of them and deteriora- 

» Acts xxi., 4. 2 Ibid., g. * Ibid., n. 

4 Ibid., xi M 27-28. s Ibid., x., 44-46. 6 Ibid., 45. 



156 History of Religious Feeling 

tion in their character ; but false prophets were to 
arise who could hardly be distinguished from the 
true. Their appearance had been foretold by our 
Lord. "For there shall arise false Christs, and 
false prophets, and shall show great signs and 
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they 
shall deceive the very elect." 1 They did arise, 
and were so plausible in their pretention, that the 
apostle John was constrained to warn the church 
against them. "Beloved, believe not every spirit, 
but try the spirits whether they are of God; be- 
cause many false prophets are gone out into the 
world." 2 

5. The apostle Paul declares that the pente- 
costal gifts were inferior in spiritual value to at 
least three of the ordinary gifts of the Spirit. 
"Covet earnestly the best gifts: . . . Though I 
speak with the tongues of men and angels, and 
have not charity, I am become as sounding brass or 
a tinkling cymbal : and though I have the gift of 
prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all 
knowledge; and though I had all faith, so that I 
could remove mountains, and have not charity, 
I am nothing." His Lord before him had 
expressed just such an estimate of these gifts. 
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he 
that doeth the will of my Father which is in 
heaven. Many will say unto me, in that day, 

1 Matt, xxiv., 24. 2 1 John iv., 1. 



Prophecy and Pentecost 157 

Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? 
and in thy name cast out devils? and in thy name 
done many wonderful works? and then will I 
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart 
from me, ye that work iniquity." 1 Jesus, who 
was the example of the perfect man, never spoke 
in trance or in the ecstatic state, thus fulfilling the 
prophecy of Moses. 2 

6. Paul declared that the pentecostal gifts 
shall cease. " Whether there be prophecies, they 
shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall 
cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish 
away." 3 It is the general opinion of church- 
historians that the pentecostal gifts did all cease 
at an early date ; that none of them appeared, at 
the latest, after the third century. 4 

7. The apostle Paul speaks of a period in a 
divine dispensation, yet to come, in which at 
least the gift of perfect knowledge shall be be- 
stowed on man. He distinguishes the present 
period from that by the particles "now" and 
"then." What the two periods are, and when 
the second is to come, may be ascertained from 
the difference between the two which he specifies. 
He says that it is to be a difference like that be- 
tween childhood and manhood. "When I was a 
child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, 
I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I 

1 Matt, vii., 21-23. 2 Deut. xviii., 15. si Cor. xiii., 8. 
* History of the Apostolic Church, Philip Schaff, p. 471. 



158 History of Religious Feeling 

put away childish things." "We know in part, 
and we prophesy in part; but when that which is 
perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be 
done away." "Now we see through a glass, 
darkly; but then, face to face: now I know in 
part, but then, shall I know even as also I am 
known." Evidently, this great change is to 
take place in the future life, not in this life. 
" And now [in the present dispensation] abidetk 
[not to cease and vanish away, as the pentecostal 
gifts of tongues and knowledge have done] 
faith, hope, and charity; these three; but the 
greatest of these is charity." 1 These quiet 
graces that come unaccompanied by any miracu- 
lous manifestations are to be the treasures of the 
church, witnessing to the ascended Lord as 
the giver of the Holy Spirit. The beginning of 
the heavenly life, when the gifts of faith, hope, 
and charity shall be supplemented by the addi- 
tion of all the gifts that appeared on the day of 
Pentecost, the apostle John saw in his vision. 

And I saw a new earth and a new heaven: for the 
first heaven and the first earth were passed away; 
and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the 
holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God 
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her 
husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, 
saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, 
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his 

1 1 Cor. xiii., 8-13. 



Prophecy and Pentecost 159 

people, and God himself shall be with them, and be 
their God, and God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more 
pain: for the former things are passed away. 1 

The day of Pentecost has never been repeated 
in this world; and it will not be repeated until the 
time of which Paul and John have spoken shall 
come. Then the prophecy of Joel will be fulfilled, 
not in token but in the fact that the spirit of the 
Lord shall be upon all his people alike. To 
assume that a religious revival — even the most 
exciting — all the phenomena of which are ex- 
plicable by the operation of natural causes, is an 
outpouring of the Spirit, like that which took 
place on the day of Pentecost, is to depreciate 
one of the most important and significant events 
in the history of the church. To assume that 
any revival of religion is such a repetition is to be 
blind to the clearest statements of revelation; it 
is to heedlessly impose on one's self an illusion 
which a moments thought would dispel. 

1 Rev. xxi., 1-4. 



CHAPTER VIII 
The Test of Experiment 

IN the scientific world a hypothesis is not ac- 
cepted unless it be able to bear all the appro- 
priate tests of experiment ; and, if the hypothesis 
underlying the doctrine of conversion be true, it will 
be able to bear such tests. It cannot, therefore, 
be deemed improper to subject it to at least one 
experimental test. The hypothesis is that con- 
version is a change in which the lost sinner ob- 
tains salvation, a change in which the child of 
Satan becomes a child of God, in which one has 
put off the old man with his deeds and has put 
on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge 
after the image of him that created him. As 
a test, let an enlightened heathen, of sound 
mind, accustomed to careful observation and to 
the exercise of calm and impartial judgment, go 
through a Christian community, not knowing 
anything of the church relations or of the religious 
sentiments of the people, and make two lists, one 
of which shall contain the names of all the con- 
verted, and the other the names of all the un- 
160 



The Test of Experiment 161 

converted, determined in the classification solely 
by what he observes in their character and con- 
duct. This being done after sufficient time for 
observation, is it probable that the one list will 
contain the names of all the converted and the 
other the names of all the unconverted in that 
community? Would the converted be willing to 
agree beforehand to regard all who should happen 
to be on the one list with himself as the children 
of God; and himself with all others on the other 
list, as the children of Satan? Would not the 
result require an abandonment of the hypothesis? 



CHAPTER IX 
Conclusion and Deductions 

WITH all the facts before us, as they have 
appeared in this investigation, we are 
unable to maintain any fidelity to truth and 
come to any other conclusion than that conversion 
is an effect produced by natural causes, and is not, 
either in whole or in part, the product of direct 
supernatural agency, is not a miracle in the soul. x 

1 That the conversion of the apostle Paul was miraculous is 
too plainly recorded to be denied; but the occasion which made 
the miracle necessary appears with equal plainness on the record. 
That man of mighty intellect and irresistible energy was bringing 
upon the kingdom of Christ on earth a crisis, in which, if left 
to the operation of natural causes, its destruction would have 
been certain. There is no record of any other such conversion 
and the church has never since that time been brought into a 
crisis which would make such a conversion necessary for its 
preservation: not even in the time of Constantine the Great. 
The general opinion now is that the luminous cross which Con- 
stantine saw before him in the heavens, while on the march 
against Maxentius in the year 313, which he took to be miracu- 
lous, and which is said to have caused his conversion to Chris- 
tianity, was a natural occurrence — a sun-halo which took the 
form of a cross. Such a halo was observed at Brighton, Eng., 
on April 1, 1852, forming a perfect cross and lasting half an hour. 
See Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th Edition, xi., 399. 
162 



Conclusion and Deductions 163 

It may be said that the conclusion we have 
reached amounts to a denial of all divine agency 
in religious experience. Such a deduction is very 
far from being legitimate; on the contrary, our 
conclusion leads to a truer and larger conception 
of that agency. We believe that the emotion 
in religious experience is the product of a divine 
action, that the Holy Spirit does comfort be- 
lievers, does bring to their remembrance whatever 
things the Lord has said unto them, does sanctify 
them through the truth, does enable them to know 
the things that are spiritually discerned, does 
witness with their spirits that they are the children 
of God, and is in them a spirit of adoption, where- 
by they cry "Abba, Father"; but we believe that 
action to be providential, not miraculous, the 
kind of action that is now accomplishing all the 
purposes of God in the outer world, doing "ac- 
cording to his will in the army of heaven and 
among the inhabitants of the earth" without 
once interrupting natural causes in their opera- 
tion. An illustration borrowed from Dr. Bush- 
nell's work on the Natural and the Supernatural, 
may help us in conceiving the possibility of such 
action. A brook falling over a precipice may be a 
continuous stream, yet the movement of the at- 
mosphere, through which it falls, may, without 
breaking its continuity, cause it to sway to this 
side or that, and thus determine its whole subse- 
quent course. So natural causes operating in the 



164 History of Religious Feeling 

inner world may be a continuous stream, and the 
immanent God may, without breaking its con- 
tinuity, sway it in such a way as to accomplish 
his gracious purposes therein. We believe that 
miracles are always possible in the outer world — 
that the lawgiver may suspend the operation 
of his laws whenever he will — but given only as 
proofs to men that God is the author of nature, 
so that they may always see God in nature. This 
being the purpose, miracles will cease, of course, 
when the proof given is sufficient for the faith of 
mankind. There is nothing more precious to the 
devout mind than the belief that the Father in 
heaven, who notices the fall of the sparrow and 
numbers the hairs of our head, has an agency in 
all the affairs of our every- day life. 

We believe that, as in Christ the heart is 
brought more and more into harmony with the 
will of God, we shall see more and more clearly 
his hand in the articulations of these affairs, and 
find cause therein for rejoicing and thankfulness 
in prosperity and for cheerful submission in adver- 
sity. Is it not true, however, that many Christ- 
ian people regard the inner world as lying entirely 
outside of the domain of the providence of God; 
that no divine action therein is recognized but 
that which comes with observation and is attended 
with those sensible manifestations which are 
taken to be the signs of a miraculous work? Do 
they not believe that their Lord is failing to fulfil 



Conclusion and Deductions 165 

unto them the promises he gave to his disciples: 
"I will pray the Father and he shall give you 
another comforter, that he may abide with you 
for ever: even the Spirit of truth"? "He shall 
teach you all things, and bring all things to your 
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you 
. . . Let not your heart be troubled, neither let 
it be afraid." Is it not true that many believers 
are suffering the loss of assurance and comfort 
which, but for this unbelief, might be a perpetual 
possession? 

There is, moreover, some reason to believe 
that there may be, in this imperceptible divine 
action, a revelation of truth that was not known 
before. When the apostle Peter, replying to the 
question of Jesus, "Whom say ye that I am," an- 
swered, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God," Jesus said to him, "Blessed art thou 
Simon Bar Jona; for flesh and blood hath not 
revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in 
heaven." From this it appears that Peter had 
been in possession of a truth which he had received 
by revelation from God, and yet that he did not 
know the time when, nor the place where, it 
had been revealed to him, or indeed that it had 
been revealed to him at all. 



Part IV 

Practical Consequences of the Doctrine of 
Conversion 



167 



CHAPTER I 
Evils Attending Conversion 

WHAT our Lord said of men is true also of 
their doctrines. "Do men gather grapes 
of thorns or figs of thistles? ... a good tree cannot 
bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree 
bring forth good fruit ; wherefore, by their fruits ye 
shall know them." 1 So far, therefore, as the doc- 
trine of conversion is erroneous it may be expected 
to be productive of various evils. No laborious 
search will be needed to find these evils, for they 
are many and conspicuous. 

I. It has Modified and Narrowed the Com- 
mission given to the Church. The commission, 
given by our Lord to the church, was, "Go ye, 
therefore, and make disciples [pupils, learners] of 
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, 
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I 
have commanded you," which many persons 
have now altered so as to be: Go and make con- 
versions in all nations, holding that, unless 

x Matt, vii., 16-20. 

169 



i7o History of Religious Feeling 

conversion be first, baptizing and teaching will be 
entirely without effect in making disciples; it 
will be like calling on the dead to arise, be baptized, 
and observe the commandments of the Lord. 

n. It is a Cause of Unbelief. Thoughtful and 
sober-minded men of the world observe that 
experiences of the most exalted character are 
ascribed to direct divine agency, while the evi- 
dences of such an agency are sometimes sadly 
wanting in the character and conduct. They 
observe that some men, who have had ecstatic, 
rapturous, transporting conversions, are unkind 
in their homes, churlish as neighbors, unscrupulous 
in business, and sometimes lustful. They ap- 
prehend clearly the assumption that conversion 
works a change in the nature of its subject, a 
change far greater than specific, no less than 
generic, putting the man in a new kingdom indeed, 
transforming the child of Satan into a child of 
God. They are not slow in applying to the as- 
sumption a variety of simple practical tests. 
They say that if the assumption be true, all the 
good ought to be found on one side of the line 
which divides the converted from the uncon- 
verted and all the bad on the other side; whereas, 
the patent fact is that on the one side not one is 
wholly good and on the other side not one is 
wholly bad. They see also that, from the best 
on the one side, to the worst on the other, there 
is a shading of differences which obliterates any 



Evils Attending Conversion 171 

line of demarcation that may be drawn. They 
say, furthermore, that it does not seem reasonable 
to suppose that there would be an arrest of 
miraculous power at the experience, which pre- 
vents its going over into the character and life; 
especially, as a change in the character and life 
is the alleged final aim of the whole work. It 
may be that the philosophical, historical, and 
scientific attacks on our religion have caused some 
men to turn away from it ; but it is probable that 
the repelling influence of this discrepancy, between 
the alleged miraculous experience and the life, 
has made hundreds of doubters where the noisy 
attacks of the unbeliever have made one. 

The effect of this discrepancy is not to be meas- 
ured by the silence of the doubters, or by the 
infrequency of the utterance of their doubts, for 
the grounds of their doubt lie in the lives of their 
nearest neighbors and most intimate friends. 

IH. It Leads to a Forbidden Judgment. It 
furnishes the converted with an ostensible ground 
for a judgment of their fellow-men which is in- 
compatible with a proper sensibility and a true 
humility. The judgment is not held in silence; 
it is often uttered. The alleged consequences of 
conversion are of such momentous importance that 
every consideration of benevolence will constrain 
the converted to utter it. It is uttered in the 
private solicitations and the public addresses of 
the converted to the unconverted. The judgment 



172 History of Religious Feeling 

pronounced is awful in its import and dreadful 
in its consequences. They count themselves as 
saved, the unconverted as unsaved. They sepa- 
rate their fellow-men, "one from another, as a 
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats,' ' 
setting "his sheep on his right hand, but the goats 
on the left." They assume that they themselves 
shall receive from the king the address of welcome: 
"Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the king- 
dom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world"; and that the unconverted, unless they 
become converted, shall receive the sentence: 
"Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire, 
prepared for the devil and his angels. " Who but 
God, the omniscient and unerring, is qualified 
to pronounce such a judgment? "He is the 
judge of all the earth." Christ said, "If any 
man hear my words and believe not, I judge him 
not, for I came not to judge the world but to 
save the world." His command was, "Judge 
not that ye be not judged; for with what judg- 
ment ye judge, ye shall be judged. " One would 
think that the least remnant of true humility 
or of a proper sensibility, even without this 
positive command of his Lord, would forbid any 
man to put forth, even by implication, a judgment 
so transcendently blessed in its issues to himself, 
so unspeakably dreadful to his fellow-men. 

IV. It Puts a Strain upon the Pure Motives of 
the Ministry. In the days of our Lord, it was 



Evils Attending Conversion 173 

one of the distinguishing marks of the kingdom of 
heaven that "the poor have the gospel preached 
unto them": "not many wise men after the flesh, 
not many mighty, not many noble are called." 
Happily, in our day, the rich also have the gospel 
preached unto them; and many of the mighty and 
noble are called; and unhappily, there is, in the 
church, a more or less well defined segregation of 
the two classes. There are congregations in which 
there may be one or two of the rich among a large 
number of the poor; and there are congregations in 
which there may be a few poor among a large num- 
ber of the rich. The one class of congregations is 
generally found in the rural districts; the other 
in the cities. The life of the minister who serves 
the one kind of congregation is very different from 
that of the minister who serves the other. The 
former's mode of living will be but little above that 
of the majority of his parishioners; his home will 
have but few more comforts, conveniences, and 
adornments than theirs. In addition to the work 
that properly pertains to his office, he will have to 
do many things that belong to the work of the 
common laborer. He will need to keep a cow, for 
the contribution she makes to the sustenance of his 
family; and horses, for his visits to his parishioners, 
and to reach the widely separated places of his 
regular preaching. He will have to milk and 
feed his cow; feed and groom his horses; and re- 
move the accumulation in his stable: all this, in all 



174 History of Religious Feeling 

kinds of weather, and often in repulsive circum- 
stances. His drives will have to be taken in cold 
and storm, and often through the deepest of 
muddy roads. It may be that he will have to 
borrow a wagon to haul his own wood, or go to 
the distant mine for coal, starting at five o'clock in 
the morning, taking provender for his horses and 
lunch for himself, and returning late at night to 
find his wife weary with anxious waiting to hear 
the ring of the wagon wheels on the snow-covered 
and frozen ground. His attire must be suited 
to his work; it will be plain, coarse, and often 
greatly soiled: to be otherwise attired in doing 
such work would be as foolish at it would be for 
the blacksmith to work at his forge in full dress 
suit and kid gloves. With small and widely 
scattered congregations and widely scattered 
members, the number of conversions will be small. 
No matter that, under his ministry, the unbeliever 
has become a believer, that the enemy of Christ 
has been converted into a friend; no matter that 
the spiritual tone of his whole congregation, old 
and young, communicants and non-communicants, 
has been elevated; no matter that his wise and 
sympathetic ministrations to his people, through 
all their joys and sorrows, have made his life to 
theirs like the woof to the warp on the loom — 
that is not the ministerial success which is in 
demand. A shallow and ignorant man who has 
gone from the country to the city and there 



Evils Attending Conversion 175 

become a member of a large and wealthy church, 
inflated by the change, and now his guest, does 
not hesitate to intimate to him, in the baldest 
manner, that he is entirely too insignificant ever 
to be thought of as a possible pastor for the vacant 
city church. When he meets his brethren of the 
city, there may be on their part not the slightest 
intention to impress upon him his inferiority, yet 
there will be an air of superiority in their bear- 
ing, the pungency of which he cannot help but 
feel. His wife must be the first lady of the parish ; 
but unable to keep female help, she will have to 
be housekeeper, cook, and washer- woman : her 
husband, in compassion, helping her in all her 
work, and she repaying his help with her assist- 
ance in the roughest of his outdoor work. The 
associations of his wife and children must be 
with people who, though kind and good — none 
anywhere to be found more kind and good — are 
uneducated and unrefined. With his meagre 
salary, he will not be able to give his children that 
education which he and his wife have had, and the 
value of which is now so deeply impressed upon 
them by the destitution of it which they see around 
them; and all the time his heart will be burdened 
with the thought of the condition his family 
would be in if he should be taken from them by 
death. 

It is far otherwise with the minister who serves 
the wealthy congregation of the city. His salary 



176 History of Religious Feeling 

is ample for all his present need ; his home is but 
little inferior to that of his wealthy parishioners 
in all its appointments and adornments; he has 
the best opportunities for intellectual and literary 
cultivation, for the enlargement of intelligence, 
and the gratification of refined tastes. The 
associations of himself and family are with the 
educated and cultured; he is able to give his 
children the very best advantages for education. 
He has summer vacations which are spent at the 
seaside or at mountain resorts in the most de- 
lightful companionship. On the approach of his 
vacation, a wealthy member of his congregation 
suggests that he go abroad, and hands him a check 
for an amount large enough to pay all his expenses. 
Others vie with one another in giving him valuable 
and elegant presents. He is the recipient of flat- 
tering attentions from all quarters of the church. 
His kind and thoughtful people provide for him a 
life insurance large enough to relieve him of all 
anxiety for his family in case of his death. 

Now it would be preposterous to say that the 
rural pastor would not greatly prefer the lot of the 
city pastor; but he cannot make the change on 
his own motion; it can be made only on invita- 
tion. The considerations, which determine a con- 
gregation in its choice of a minister, may be his 
learning, his intellectual power, his eloquence, 
his strength of character, and purity of life; but 
where the common notion of conversion prevails, 



Evils Attending Conversion 177 

the determining consideration ought to be, and is, 
his success in making conversions. When such a 
people are seeking for a minister, they examine the 
statistical tables of the church, which give every 
year the number of conversions for each minister, 
and they choose the one who has had the largest 
number of conversions. * 

This fact operates on all ministers as an incen- 
tive to report the largest number of conversions. 
A minister who, by indiscretion or weakness, has 
become uncomfortable in his present charge, and 
one who for any other reason desires a more eligible 
situation, will hold a series of revival meetings; 

x Within the knowledge of the author, a worthy young minis- 
ter, who happened to have a large number of conversions in his 
first charge, was called to a city church, the determining consider- 
ation being, avowedly, the large accessions accredited to him 
in the statistical tables of the church. Great expectations of 
ingathering by his ministry were entertained; he was held in the 
highest esteem, both as a man and a minister, but not in the 
least beyond his desert; he was most fondly petted and extra- 
vagantly praised; but it happened that his earnest and faithful 
labors were not attended with the kind of success that was 
expected; and he was made to feel, in the most painful manner, 
the disappointment of his congregation. He was officially re- 
quested to resign his pastoral charge, the request being de- 
livered to him by an officer of the church with whom he had 
taken sweet counsel, and in whom he had confided as one of 
his most devoted friends. He resigned, but his fine sensibility 
and firm integrity forbade him to adopt the schemes commonly 
used by ministers who are compelled to seek a new pastoral 
charge. A chaplaincy in the army was secured for him, but 
a broken heart and broken health soon brought him to the 
grave. 



178 History of Religious Feeling 

and, in order to be more sure of success, a distin- 
guished evangelist will be employed to conduct the 
meetings; conversions of the mildest type will be 
accepted as genuine; the roll of the church will be 
examined; and persons who had been once con- 
verted, but had lapsed into indifference and 
neglect of religious duty, will be brought back 
to the church and will be reported as new converts ; 
the religious press will be employed to publish 
the number of accessions thus gained — all this 
for the purpose of raising the value of his stock 
in the ministerial market, thus making the pro- 
fessed winning of souls a veritable traffic in souls. 
Where the common doctrine of conversion pre- 
vails, and while human nature is beset with its 
present infirmities, this humiliating spectacle may 
be expected to appear. 

V. It Shuts Out from the Church Many who 
may be True Children of God. It is conceded 
by all that the work of regeneration is wrought 
in many who have not had, and could not 
have, the experience of conversion. The larger 
part of the Christian world applies the sign 
of "the washing of regeneration" to the infant 
children of believers; some, on the assumption 
that the regeneration is wrought by means of, or 
in connection with, the ordinance of baptism; 
others, on the assumption that it had already 
taken place. The former hold that all unbaptized 
infants dying in infancy, whether they be the 



Evils Attending Conversion 179 

children of believers or unbelievers, are unregen- 
erate and lost. Some of the latter have held, in 
times past, that the children of believers are in- 
cluded in the covenant and that, if they die in 
infancy, they are saved, whether baptized or un- 
baptized; while the children of all others dying in 
infancy are lost. Now, however, all, excepting 
members of the church of Rome, believe that all 
infants dying in infancy, whether the children 
of believers or unbelievers, are regenerated and 
saved. In all of these cases, it is admitted 
that there is regeneration and salvation without 
conversion. Then it may happen, and surely 
will happen, that those who hold the doctrine that 
conversion is necessary to salvation will be found 
counting the regenerate as unregenerate ; treating 
true children of God as children of Satan ; rejecting 
those whom Christ has received; and offending 
little ones who believe in Christ. 

VI. It Declares the Secret Things that Belong 
to God. It Assumes to Answer the Question: 
Who are Regenerate? Who may account himself 
as the recipient of the change which makes him a 
member of the kingdom of heaven? Regenera- 
tion, as described by our Lord, is like a birth, an 
event of which no one can be conscious: it is like 
the movement of the wind, of which no man can 
tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is 
every one that is born of the Spirit. Relying on 
this authority, our answer to this question ought 



180 History of Religious Feeling 

to be: every one, in whose mind the question is 
raised; and at the moment the question is raised. 
At that very moment he may begin to take in the 
gracious influences of the Spirit, as the infant 
inhales the atmosphere the moment it enters into 
the world. The action of the mind in the one 
case, and of the body in the other proceeds from 
a power and a predisposition bestowed by the 
Creator. The Scriptures furnish ample warrant 
for the belief that the divine provision for the 
life of the soul is no less abundant, and no less 
immediately available, than the provision for the 
life of the body. 

The faith of man should be immediate; there 
should be no waiting for a sign or wonder to be 
wrought within him for its confirmation; and he 
should set out at once upon the course of conduct 
properly consequent upon such faith. The fact 
that the love of God is so conspicuous among his 
other attributes as to appear to be his essential 
nature; the fact that "God is love"; the fact that 
while he declares himself to be a just God who 
"will by no means clear the guilty" he, at the 
same time, declares himself to be "the Lord, the 
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering 
and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, trans- 
gression and sin" warrants this answer. Every 
one who will may use the prayer beginning with 
the words: "Our Father which art in heaven"; 



Evils Attending Conversion 181 

every one may express his confidence and hope 
in the words of the Psalm: "The Lord is my 
shepherd, I shall not want. . . ."; every one may 
express his gratitude in the words of the Psalm : 
"Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within 
me bless his holy name." Will any one forbid 
the use of these words to all but those who have 
had the experience of conversion? Will any one 
forbid the unconverted to regard their adversities 
as the chastening of a father, who dealeth with 
them as with sons, chastening them that they 
may be partakers of the divine glory? Will any 
one forbid all but the converted to undertake 
the fulfilment of Christian duties, as such? This 
prohibition, though never expressed by the con- 
verted, is always implied in their doctrine of 
conversion. 

Whether it is to be attributed to that selfishness 
which is an element of the original sin, consequent 
upon the fall of man ; or whether it is a survival of 
the ferocia of some ancestral wild beast, there can 
be no doubt that it contributes to the enjoyment of 
any good thing man possesses to see or know that 
there are others who are shut out from the enjoy- 
ment. We often find, therefore, barriers erected 
by men around the things they enjoy merely for 
the sake of this increment to their enjoyment. 
There can be no doubt that the extirpation of this 
peculiarity of human nature will be in the line 
of development yet to be made. No one, we 



1 82 History of Religious Feeling 

think, can read the Gospel histories without seeing 
that this was a work which our Lord set himself 
specially to do while he was on the earth. In at 
least two instances he manifested his purpose to 
remove the barriers erected by men for the purpose 
of separating themselves, as saved, from others 
whom they counted as unsaved: I. When he 
said, "The Son of man is come to seek and to save 
that which was lost," speaking of Zaccheus the 
publican who was barred out of the ark of 
safety and counted among the lost. 2. When 
he said to the woman of Samaria: "Believe 
me, the hour cometh when ye shall, neither in 
this mountain nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the 
Father; but the hour cometh, and now is, when 
the true worshippers shall worship the Father in 
spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such 
to worship him." The Samaritans had held 
that a formal connection with the temple on Mt. 
Gerizim, and the Jews had held that a like 
connection with the temple at Jerusalem, was 
necessary for the acceptable worship of God; and 
in doing so had made these temples to be bars, 
shutting out all others from the divine acceptance. 
Jesus would break down the bars and accept any 
one, anywhere in the world, who was sincere in 
his worship; as a worshipper of the Father, in 
spirit and in truth; and there was an implication 
in his words, that the search of the Father, for such 
worshippers would not be in vain. The same evil 



Evils Attending Conversion 183 

tendency is in man to-day, and such barriers are 
now to be found in the church, some making a 
connection with a certain ecclesiastical organiza- 
tion necessary to salvation and counting all who 
are outside of that organization as lost. Others 
make a certain kind of experience necessary to 
salvation and count all who have not had that 
experience as lost. Is it not probable that our 
Lord, if he were now on earth, would break down 
these barriers and declare genuine religious feeling, 
even the mildest, and however manifested, to be 
enough for acceptance with God? Shall we not 
then open more widely the way for the abounding 
grace of God in this evil world; shall we not 
endeavor to bring more of the sweet charity of 
heaven into the bitterness of this world? 

The arts of poetry, music, and eloquence awaken 
feelings alike in the converted and in the uncon- 
verted — merely aesthetic feelings — but when these 
arts are conjoined to the expressions of religious 
truths, we recognize the feelings, awakened in the 
breast of the converted, as genuinely religious. 
Upon what ground, however, can it be maintained 
that the feelings thus awakened in the unconverted 
are never, and cannot ever be, genuinely religious? 
When the unconverted man in the worshipping 
assembly sings, with feeling, Chas. Wesley's hymn, 
Jesus lover of my soul, or Toplady's Rock of 
ages cleft for me, who will say that his feeling is 
not genuinely religious? What one of the con- 



184 History of Religious Feeling 

verted ever feels a shock when the unconverted 
man, sitting by his side, joins heartily in singing 
hymns that express the highest adoration, the most 
ardent love, the firmest faith, and the most 
confident hope; as though a sacred thing had been 
profaned and a horrible falsehood enacted? Can 
religious feelings be divided into two classes, 
distinguished, the one from the other, by a specific 
difference, the difference being not that the feelings 
in the one class are real, while those in the other 
class are not real; but that the feelings of the 
unconverted are the products of natural causes 
-and, therefore, not gracious or saving, while those 
of the converted are the products of a supernatu- 
ral agent and are, therefore, gracious and saving? 
Are the momentary feelings, excited at conversion, 
varying, as we have seen that they do, in different 
circumstances, from the highest ecstasy to the 
mildest fervor, ground enough for a distinction 
so momentous as that between the saved and the 
lost? 

During the Civil War in the United States 
when the need for volunteers for the army was 
great, special means were adopted to excite the 
patriotic feelings of the people; in every town 
eloquent addresses were delivered; there were 
nightly bugle-calls; and companies of enlisted 
men marched through the streets to the stirring 
music of the fife and drum; and many were led 
by the excitement to join the ranks of the volun- 



Evils Attending Conversion 185 

teers. The fact that they were thus led to that 
action was no reason for questioning the genuine- 
ness of their patriotism. But there were some 
persons, living in the rural regions, who, calmly 
considering the great principles in the issue and 
deciding, in the absence of all adventitious ex- 
citements, what their duty was, came into town 
and quietly enrolled their names in their country's 
army. Was their patriotism to be adjudged, on 
this account, less genuine than that of the others? 
Is it probable that they would be less faithful in 
the service; less patient under the hardships of 
the camp and the march, less alert on guard, less 
steadfast on the line of battle, or less courageous 
in the charge? 

In our discussion of the changes of character, 
alleged to have been produced by conversion (138) 
we found it necessary to take account of social 
influences in effecting the change. It appeared 
that the mere fact that a man is recognized as a 
Christian by his fellow-men will operate, as a 
natural cause, to increase the amount of his emo- 
tion, and thus cause him to acquire a Christian 
character and lead a Christian life. We may 
now remark that the mere fact that a man is 
recognized as not being a Christian — and the 
want of conversion will always secure for him this 
recognition — will operate, as a natural cause, in 
the opposite direction, diminishing the amount of 
his religious emotion, and if not making him 



1 86 History of Religious Feeling 

positively un- Christian in character and conduct, 
yet suppressing all distinctively Christian acts. 

So great is the mercy of God toward all them 
that fear him, that the pre-supposition of every 
man, the very moment he begins to think of his 
spiritual state, ought to be that God had already 
given him regeneration. The comprehension of 
the Lord's mercy went beyond the conception of 
his most judicious and earnest disciples. 

"And John answered and said, Master, we 
saw one casting out devils in thy name, and we 
forbade him because he followeth not us. But 
Jesus said, Forbid him not. . . For he that is not 
against us is on our part. For whosoever shall 
give you a cup of water to drink in my name, be- 
cause ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto 
you, he shall not lose his reward. " x 

The husbandman knows how important it is 
that every seed he sows should have a living germ 
in it ; but he does not wait till he sees the germ, 
or observes it bursting from its encasement, be- 
fore he will put it in the ground. Walking by 
faith not by sight, is the normal life of man in 
this world. Providence, acting behind or within 
natural causes, is the object of faith, not of sight, 
for that action is always invisible and inscrutable. 
Miracle is the object of sight, not of faith. When 
men begin to demand internal miracles, emotions 
and experiences which are miraculously produced, 

1 Mark ix., 38-41. 



Evils Attending Conversion 187 

as evidence of their gracious state, they have 
decided to abandon faith and walk only by sight. 
Do they not render themselves obnoxious to the 
rebuke of our Lord: "Except ye see signs and 
wonders ye will not believe"? 



CHAPTER II 
What is the Church ? 

THE common doctrine of conversion is a centre 
of a whole system of ideas and operations ; 
and, as any change in the centre of the solar 
system would necessarily be followed by a re- 
adjustment of the relations of all other bodies in 
that system, so a change in this doctrine would 
necessarily be followed by a revision of many of 
our present religious notions and especially of our 
doctrine of the church. On one occasion, "While 
the pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked 
them saying, What think ye of Christ. Whose 
son is he?" a question of practical importance at 
that time ; but it can hardly be held to be such a 
question now in any Christian land, for all men 
therein with insignificant exception, believe that 
Christ is the Son of God. A more practical 
question for us is, What think ye of the church? 
The word is now used to mean so many different 
things that it is difficult to tell which one of them 
is meant in any particular case. A company of 
believers, who meet in a particular place for the 
1 88 



What is the Church? 189 

worship of God, is called a church; and persons 
from the outside world, who become members of 
the company, are said to have become members 
of the church. In every large town in a Christian 
land there are many such churches. Again, those 
churches, within a certain territory, which have 
agreed in accepting the same system of doctrine, 
in adopting the same form of worship, and in sub- 
mitting to the same form of government, are 
called churches — as the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, the Congregational Church, and the 
Presbyterian Church. Again there is what is 
called the visible catholic church, composed of all 
the churches in the world. Then, there is the 
invisible catholic church, composed of all the 
believers on earth, together with the redeemed 
in heaven: the church of "the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in 
heaven and earth is named." Membership in 
that church is of vital importance to every human 
being; but now, unhappily, it is assumed that 
membership in one or another of the ecclesiastical 
organizations formed by man is necessary to 
membership in that church. And still more 
unhappily, those organizations have prescribed 
various and contradictory terms of admission to 
their membership. 

It is remarkable that our Lord formed no 
organization which he called the church, pro- 
mulgated no constitution as its basis, and estab- 



190 History of Religious Feeling 

lished no form of law for its government. Only 
two instances are recorded in which he used the 
word church. "And I say unto thee, thou art 
Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church. " x 
"But if he will not hear thee, then take with 
thee one or two more, that, in the mouth of two 
or three witnesses, every word may be established ; 
and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the 
church; but if he neglect to hear the church, let 
him be unto thee as an heathen man and a 
publican." 2 In neither of these instances does 
he give any definition of the word church. There 
may be an implied definition by negation, in the 
last clause of the last of these passages; namely, 
that the church embraces all who are not heathen 
men or publicans. If so, we have to ask, When 
was that church organized; and, as there is no 
record of its organization, we have to ask, How 
did it come to be a body, the existence of which 
was supposed to be generally known. The word 
used, in both instances, was equivalent to the 
word congregation. The passage, in Ps. xxii., 
22: "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, 
in the midst of the congregation will I praise 
thee," is quoted in the following form in Heb. ii., 
12: "I will declare thy name unto my brethren, 
in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto 
thee." The congregation or church spoken of 
evidently was a religious organization already in 

1 Matt, xvi., 18. 2 Matt, xviii., 16, 17. 



What is the Church? 191 

existence; and, as there was no other of the kind 
at the time, it must have been the synagogue our 
Lord had in mind when he used the word church. 
The synagogue was a well-known organization 
for practical religious purposes, fellowship, prayer, 
reading and exposition of the Scriptures, exhorta- 
tion and discipline: and for these purposes, it 
must have been a very concrete and compact 
organization; it had a ruler, a board of elders, 
a teacher, a messenger (the angel of the church), 
a minister (a janitor), and, in its discipline, it 
could go so far as to inflict corporal punishment. 
It was a body within the Jewish commonwealth, 
of which all the citizens were supposed to be 
members. But it was cosmopolitan, established 
all over the world ; and all Jews residing in foreign 
countries were members. It appears that our 
Lord and his disciples were connected with the 
synagogue, continued in that connection, and 
used it for their own purposes. The prediction of 
the Lord that his disciples should be scourged in 
the synagogues, implied that they were, and 
would continue to be, members of that organi- 
zation. When the apostle James, James ii., 1-2, 
in exhorting his brethren not to have the faith of 
the Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons, 
says: "If there come unto your assembly a man 
with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come 
in also a poor man in vile raiment, " the word he 
uses is synagogue, not assembly. It appears not 



19 2 History of Religious Feeling 

only that there were Christian synagogues, but that 
Christians, agreeing in holding a certain system 
of doctrine, gathered together in synagogues by 
themselves, as Christians now do in their separate 
denominational churches; and that the doctrines 
taught in some of these synagogues — certainly 
in those of Ephesus and Philadelphia — were so 
erroneous and pernicious that the synagogues 
were denounced as synagogues of Satan. 1 It is 
probable that, as there had been a great syna- 
gogue, there was in every large city a confedera- 
tion of the synagogues of disciples; and that the 
churches of Corinth, Ephesus, Asia, etc., were 
such confederations. 

Now, in the absence of any record of special 
organization by our Lord or his apostles, we are 
warranted in presuming that we have here the 
history of the beginning of the Christian church; 
and in assuming that all the present specializations 
are of human origin. From this it would follow 
that all the citizens of a Christian state who do 
not expressly deny that Jesus is the Son of God 
are members of the church. The adoption of 
this principle would bring our ecclesiastical and 
political institutions back to the form that was 
provided by divine wisdom for Israel, in which 
all citizens of the state were members of the church. 

In a Christian country, the church and state 
would no longer be independent and conflicting 

1 Rev. ii., 9; iii., 9. 



What is the Church? 193 

institutions; and the boundaries of the one would 
be coterminous with the boundaries of the other. 
It is to be observed that, in this country, not- 
withstanding the prevailing theory of the inde- 
pendence of the two, and our effort to secure an 
entire separation of the one from the other, we 
have not succeeded in effecting such a separation; 
and that, if we had succeeded it would have been 
at the cost of the public welfare. 1 

As all are citizens of the state who have not 
renounced their allegiance or have not, as a punish- 
ment for crime, been deprived of their citizenship, 
so all should be members of the church who are not 
avowed unbelievers or have not been cut off for 
offences committed. All the people of a Christian 
nation should, as the people of Israel did, count 
themselves as the chosen people of God; all under 
full obligation to perform every duty man owes to 
God. The office of the Christian minister, like 
that of the Hebrew prophet, should be to rebuke 
men for their not being and doing what their 
real relation to God requires, and for not enjoy- 
ing in fulness the blessings to which they are 
entitled. All sin should be impartially and un- 
sparingly condemned ; it should be proclaimed that 
the wages of all sin, and not that the wages of 
the sin of not being converted, is death. Men 

1 Conf. Spiritual Despotism, by Isaac Taylor (Sr.) and The 
Relation of Religion to Civil Government in the United States of 
America; A State Without a Church, but not Without a Religion, 
by the author. 



194 History of Religious Feeling 

should be called to a repentance that is to be 
repeated all the days of their lives; and not to a 
repentance which is to occur only once in a lifetime. 
That whole system of ideas which applies the term 
" saint" to all of the converted, and the term 
"sinner" to all of the unconverted, should be 
discarded, as flagrantly untruthful and unjust. 
The persuasions of the minister, thus directed, 
might not result in a supposed miraculous ex- 
perience here and there; but attended with the 
divine blessing, it would produce a sanctifying 
and elevating effect on all the people. 1 

No distinction should be made between religious 
and political duties; both should be performed as 
unto the Lord. The several congregations in a 
community might differ in matters of doctrine, in 

1 This was the vantage ground upon which Massillon stood 
when he preached before Louis XIV., that powerful sermon on the 
vices and virtues of the great, from the text Matt, iv., 8. He 
recognized no division in his audience into the converted and 
the unconverted — into Christians and sinners — he did not regard 
a part of his audience as under full obligation to obey the com- 
mandments of the Lord, and a part as under a modified or incom- 
plete obligation to do so. His object was, not to convert the 
unconverted, not to persuade sinners to become Christians, but to 
turn all from sin unto righteousness; and it is said that the whole 
audience felt the power of his eloquence. 

This vantage ground for the promotion of righteousness 
among men was possessed by the ancient prophets, and is now 
possessed by the Roman Catholic Church; but the Protestant 
church has been almost entirely dispossessed of it by its doctrine 
of conversion, which teaches the unconverted that they are 
enemies, unreconciled to God, and that no right-doing on their 
part can be accepted, or regarded with favor by him. 



What is the Church ? 195 

their forms of worship, and in ecclesiastical organ- 
ization, and yet all be confederated as one church. 
The unity might be realized in a senate, composed 
of representatives of the several congregations in 
a prescribed district, as in the old times there were 
a synagogue and a great synagogue in the Jewish 
cities; and to this senate appeals might be taken 
in cases of discipline. The ecclesiastical and civil 
powers would both be regarded as ordinances of 
God, and would both be "a terror to evil-doers, 
and a praise to them that do well." Excom- 
munication from the church would be dreaded as 
much as being "cut off from his people" was 
dreaded by the Israelite. Church discipline would 
be, what it now professes to be, but is not, an 
effective means of grace; for no rival denomina- 
tional church would stand ready to receive the 
offender into its membership: he would be left 
to stand alone, with the whole community against 
him. 

The church, as now organized in Christian lands, 
is not doing and cannot do all of the work the 
Lord commanded his disciples to do. Besides 
preaching, they were commanded to heal the 
sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out 
devils. His church was to have a hand ever 
outstretched to supply all the wants of poor, 
ignorant, and suffering humanity. The state, in 
this country, provides nearly all of the hospitals 
for the sick; the asylums for the insane, the 



196 History of Religious Feeling 

dumb, the orphan, and the imbecile; the alms- 
houses for the poor; schools for the primary, 
secondary, and the higher education of the 
children and youth. The branches of the Young 
Men's Christian Association, the various fraternal 
organizations, the Salvation Army, and a few 
institutional churches are moved to undertake 
different parts of the benevolent work the church 
was commissioned to do. But how paltry is the 
amount done by them all, compared with what 
the state has taken upon itself to do; and how 
inept and inadequate are the efforts the church 
is making to infuse a Christian element into the 
works of the state, especially into the work of 
educating the youth! Strange to say, it is only 
in heathen lands that the Christian church is 
doing all the work her Lord required her to do. 1 

1 The author is not so visionary as to suppose that the Christian 
state and the Christian church will be brought into normal rela- 
tionship, within a future that is near: neither is he so infatuated as 
to propose any movement toward that end. But he believes, 
that the contemplation of the ideal will not be hurtful; he believes, 
furthermore, that, as the ideal was realized in Israel, under 
divine direction, the world, under the same direction, will surely 
come to the realization again in some future time, however remote 
that time may be. 

Mr. Romolo Murri, in the Rassenga Nazionale of Florence, 
says: "We think separation (of Church and State) a good and 
useful thing, so far as it implies the abolition of certain definite 
and historic relations which are no longer suitable or advantageous 
to either party. But separation, in the full sense of the term, 
as implying an utter absence of all connection between the 
two societies, we regard as a contradiction in terms. In order to 



What is the Church? 197 

It appears that, in the fourth century, when 
the people of the Roman Empire had become 
generally Christians, the church and the state 
became one; or that each became an organ of one 
body, in correspondence with the divine and 
human natures of Christ. If we believe that 
God is in the church and in the world, ruling over 
all, we cannot believe that this incorporation of the 
two in one body was the result of a fortuitous 
drift in the affairs of men: and seeing that it did 
not attain unto completion till after the lapse of 
several centuries, we cannot believe that it was 
the work and device of man. We must regard it 
as an evolution, moved and guided by the divine 
Spirit. The expansion of the two members of 
this one body into a world-wide comprehension; 
the church into a Holy Catholic church, in which 
all peoples should be united in one universal 
brotherhood, nourished, in their spiritual life, 
by one mother-church; the state, into the Holy 
Roman Empire, in which all the nations should 
be united under one government, thus making 
the bloodshed and desolation of war to cease for 
ever, was a consummation which the Christian 
could not but desire with all his heart, and for 

obtain such a separation it would be necessary to cut the con- 
science of every human individual in two: one half to be the 
director of religious activity, the other half, of all the remaining 
sphere of life. The Church and the State by this unity of the 
human conscience, are made one in their pursuit of the very 
highest ends. " 



198 History of Religious Feeling 

which he could not but labor with all his energy. 
But, in this case, as in that of the institutions 
given by God to Israel, what was good was per- 
verted to evil by the weakness, the folly, and 
wickedness of man. While, in theory, opposition 
between pope and emperor seemed to be impos- 
sible, each being a servant of the same King; 
each being bound to aid and foster the other; yet 
in time differences of opinion arose between them 
on questions of policy and jurisdiction. Hilde- 
brand asserted the superior authority of the pope, 
on the ground that the interests of the soul, in- 
trusted to him, were superior to the interests of 
the body, which were intrusted to the emperor. 
He compared the authority of the pope to the 
light of the sun and that of the emperor to the 
light of the moon, which shines only with a light 
received from the sun. The controversies grew 
into conflicts till the state ceased to be an empire, 
and the church ceased to be catholic. And now, 
since the individualism of the Reformation, in 
opposition to the collectivism of the medieval 
church, has been making the church less catholic 
than ever, there is a tendency toward an entire 
separation, not only of the church but of all 
religion, from the state. This, when accomplished, 
will surely be an ^unsatisfactory and an unstable 
condition; for the mass of the people, in all the 
most civilized nations, will be not only religious 
but Christian. There can hardly be a doubt that 



What is the Church? 199 

the divine power of evolution, which is working 
in all the world, will in time bring the various 
states, on the one hand, and the various churches, 
on the other hand, into two great confederations; 
and will bring both into a holy catholic union, in 
which they will join in acknowledging the author- 
ity of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Very 
gratifying indications of the working of that 
power are already visible. Must not the World's 
Evangelical Alliance, the peace conferences, the 
establishment of The Hague Tribunal, the treaties 
of arbitration, the Postal Union, and the organiza- 
tion of a Congress of the Nations be attributed 
to the indwelling and working of the spirit of 
Christ in the hearts of men? 

It can hardly be denied that one of the greatest 
obstacles in the way of this glorious consummation 
is the doctrine of conversion, which makes a 
division among men that is utterly irreconcilable. 
The converted can never consistently recognize 
the unconverted as members of the same spiritual 
body with themselves. 



CHAPTER III 
Evangelism 

THE doctrine of conversion has brought anew 
office into the church ; not new in name, but 
new in function: evangelism, attended with evils 
peculiar to itself. 

The name of the various offices of the church, 
provided by our Lord, are given by the apostle Paul 
in his Epistle to the Ephesians, iv., 11: "He gave 
some apostles ; and some prophets ; and some evan- 
gelists; and some pastors and teachers." Only 
two persons are mentioned in the New Testament 
as having been evangelists, Philip and Timothy, 
and only once is each spoken of as an evangelist. l 
Taking into view all that is said in the New Testa- 
ment on the subject, we find that the evangelist 
was an itinerant while the pastor or teacher was 
stationed at one place. It is probable that when 

1 Acts xxi., 8. "The next day we that were of Paul's company- 
departed and came unto Caesarea; and we entered into the house 
of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven, and abode 
with him." 

2 Tim. iv., 5. "Do the work of an evangelist; make full 
proof of thy ministry. " 

200 



Evangelism 201 

the " murmuring of the Grecians against the 
Hebrews because their widows were neglected 
in the daily ministration,' ' was quieted by the 
attendance of the " seven' ' to that work, Philip 
entered upon the work of an evangelist. When 
the disciples were scattered abroad by the perse- 
cutions of Saul, we are told that "they went every- 
where preaching the word, then Philip went down 
to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto 
them. " The only other instance of his doing the 
work of an evangelist on record is his expounding, 
to the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts viii., 37 : "He began 
at the same scripture and preached Christ unto 
him. " There is no record of any particular work 
that Timothy did as an evangelist, and it appears 
that Philip soon took up a permanent residence 
at Caesarea, and that when Paul was making his 
last journey to Jerusalem he and his companions 
were entertained there by Philip "many days." 

If the work of the evangelist was, in the early 
days of the church, what it is held to be now — 
the most important work the church has to do — 
it is remarkable that so few records of it have 
been made. It is remarkable also that in the 
only instance of which a full record has been made, 
it is so different, in its circumstances, its form, 
and mode, from the evangelism of the present ; 
day. 

It is probable that it was the special work of! 
the evangelist of the early church to make Jesus 



202 History of Religious Feeling 

known, as the Son of God and the redeemer of 
the world, in regions where he was entirely un- 
known : the work which the missionary in heathen 
lands is now doing, a work entirely different 
from that of the modern evangelist. 1 His work 
is given exclusively to those who have the know- 
ledge of Jesus, but who have not had the experience 
of conversion, and who are regarded as lost sinners; 
the whole object of his work is the saving of 
sinners. Paul thus describes the service which 
the offices instituted by Christ were intended to 
render: "The perfecting of the saints, for the 
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body 
of Christ ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, 
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a 
perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of 
the fulness of Christ/ ' It is remarkable that 
he does not mention as a part of that service — 
not even as a part of the service of the evangelist 
— the conversion and the saving of sinners. 

Among the evils of evangelism in its practical 
working are: 

i. That it is Necessarily and Purposely Par- 
tial in its Chosen Work of Saving Sinners. 
The work of the evangelist is now given only 
on the condition that all, or a number, of the 
churches of the place unite in the effort; that a 

1 Some denominations, in ordaining men who are going to the 
foreign field, ordain them expressly as evangelists and not as 
pastors or merely as ministers of the gospel. 



Evangelism 203 

tabernacle be erected, or other large auditorium 
be provided, for the accommodation of the great 
assembly ; so it is, of course, a work that is possible 
only in the large towns and cities. The compla- 
cency with which our modern evangelism leaves the 
sinners in the rural regions to perish is strangely 
incongruous with its burning zeal for the salvation 
of those that dwell in the cities, especially seeing 
that the former largely outnumber the latter. 1 

2. It Discourages and Disparages the Work of 
the Pastor. Since the advent of evangelism, not 
only has there been no expectation of a revival and 
of the conversion of sinners by the pastor in the 
rural districts, but none has been expected to occur 
under the ministry of the pastor in the towns and 
cities. He may be sincere and earnest in all his 
labors ; unsparing of himself in the preparation for 
all his services; he may put forth his utmost 
strength in all his efforts; he may pray without 
ceasing for a revival; but evangelism, affirming 
that revivals now come only by its agency, has 
weakened his faith and his prayer is not answered. 
He is now only the forerunner to prepare the way 
for the coming of the evangelist; and he might 
well say of the evangelist, what John the Baptist 
said of our Lord, "he must increase, but I must 
decrease, " for it has already taken place. 

1 The census of 1900 make the rural population of the United 
States to be 67 per cent., and the urban to be 33 per cent, of the 
whole. 



204 History of Religious Feeling 

Not only has much of the fruit of the pastor's 
labor gone to the evangelist, but much of his 
enjoyment of it also. The sermon is, in a proper 
sense, a work of art; it is like other works of art, 
in that it is intended to act upon the feelings; but 
unlike, in that it is intended to act upon the 
highest of all feelings and for the most important 
of all practical purposes. 

" In the elder days of art 
Builders wrought, with greatest care, 
Each minute and unseen part, 
For the gods see everywhere." 

For this and other reasons, must the sermon be 
so wrought. The truth must be presented in its 
most convincing form; the argument must be 
made conclusive; the parts must be marshalled 
so as to contribute the utmost to the final effect; 
the connections must be obvious; the transitions 
easy; the style simple and pleasing; and the 
whole must be embellished with illustrations that 
sparkle as the stars of night. 

When all has been completed, then, to be filled 
with the appropriate feeling and present it to a 
large, alert, attentive, eagerly expectant audience, 
is one of the purest and most exalted of pleasures; 
a pleasure far exceeding that of the painter or 
sculptor in beholding the admiration which the 
public is giving to his masterpiece. This is a 
pleasure which the evangelist enjoys to the full; 



Evangelism 205 

but it is one which the pastor, who has to prepare 
two sermons every week, besides preparing for a 
mid-week service, year after year, cannot possess. 
The evangelist has also the pleasure of always 
seeing some immediate results of his labors; and 
going as he does from place to place, after a short 
stay in each, and using over and over again a 
short list of sermons which, in their order and in 
all their parts, he has wrought up to his ideal of 
excellence and effectiveness, his joy in the work 
is made to be full and continuous. 

These features of the evangelistic work will 
operate on pastors as a powerful temptation to 
enter the evangelistic field: indeed, all pastors 
might well desire to be evangelists ; it will operate 
with special force upon those who, through weak- 
ness or other unfitness, have been unsuccessful 
in the pastorate. 

Under these influences, it could hardly be 
otherwise than that some ministers who have not 
been sought for the work would seek the work of 
the evangelist. While it would be improper to 
suppose that they are not acting from the highest 
motives, or that they do not believe that they are 
so acting; yet there is reason for the supposition 
that, in some of them, inferior motives do some- 
times rise to the ascendancy, and that some 
ministers take up evangelism for the sake of the ex- 
citement, the appreciation, and the remuneration 
it brings. It may be that with some evangelists 



206 History of Religious Feeling 

the play upon the religious feelings may have 
become an occupation or business by which their 
livelihood is to be gained. 

There are certain feelings, natural to the human 
soul, which ordinarily lie in slumber but which 
may be roused by means of the appropriate art. 
The feelings roused by music, the opera, and the 
drama, may be taken as examples of the fact. 
In these cases the artist will be more successful 
in his work if he himself possess the feeling or if he 
be skilled in feigning it. The demand for the 
pleasure thus obtained is so great that certain 
persons devote their lives to the cultivation and 
practice of the art, and thousands of people are in 
attendance upon their performances every night in 
the year. 

It is plain that the religious feeling is of this 
character, and that the work of the evangelist is 
in some respects the same as that of the musician, 
the opera singer, and the tragedian. There is, 
however, this difference, that the feelings roused 
in the concert hall and in the theatre are not 
supposed to work any change in the nature and 
destiny of the subject, while those roused by the 
evangelist are supposed to change the child of 
Satan into a child of God, and to turn his destiny 
from a world of eternal woe to a world of ever- 
lasting blessedness. There is also this difference, 
that the feeling roused by the artist may be called 
into play again and again, while the feeling 



Evangelism 207 

excited by the evangelist, on account of the mo- 
mentous changes consequent upon it, need not be 
excited again, however deep the slumber into 
which it may have fallen. 

That evangelism does sometimes become an 
occupation or business appears from the fact that 
business methods are employed to secure constant 
employment: such as the distribution, through 
the mails, of pamphlets and circulars, containing 
offers of service, the terms of service, personal 
recommendations, and press-notices. The exam- 
ples of business methods given in the note below 
will show that the supposition just stated is not 
entirely without foundation. * 

1 The author has lately received a blotter for his desk, to- 
gether with a little pamphlet entitled, Revival Work and Soul- 
Winning, containing thirty-four personal recommendations and a 
statement of the benefits of union meetings. A likeness of the 
evangelist, with his name below, fills the left end of the blotter; 
and on the right end is a fac-simile of the following letter: "It gives 

me great pleasure to recommend my friend to all the churches 

of Christ. D. L. Moody. Denver, Dec. 25, 1898." In the 
body, at the top, in large capitals are the words, "Your Next 
Revival." Then the following, viz.: "Dear Brother Pastor: — 
No doubt you are thinking of your next revival meetings. I 
send you this blotter which suggests three different ways of con- 
ducting special evangelistic meetings. ' ' Then follows a statement 
of "The Ordinary Way: The Better Way: The Best Way"; after 
which the permanent address of the evangelist is given, with 
the statement, "Member of the Interdenominational Associa- 
tion of Evangelists. Commended by D. L. Moody, Dr. R. A. 
Torrey, Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman, Dr. S. M. Neil (Sam Jones), 
C. H. Yatman, Bishop Hendrlx. Write soon: do it now, 
if you desire my help. " At the bottom, in capital letters, is the 



208 History of Religious Feeling 

3. It gives an incorrect answer to the question, 
What is the First and Most Important Duty of 
Christians. A distinguished evangelist, at a 
large convention of clergymen, asserted that 
"the main business of every Christian should be 
the winning of souls." Pamphlets and leaflets 
have been widely distributed throughout the 
church, entitled " Soul- Winning,' ' and giving in- 
structions upon the way in which the work is to 
be done. The main business of every Christian, 
according to this statement, is not obedience to 
our Lord's command: "Be ye therefore perfect, 
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect " ; 
"that ye love one another, as I have loved you"; 

following, "Keep This Blotter Within Sight. Pray to Father, 
Think, Then Write." 

In the pamphlet, the following statements of the benefit of 
union meetings are given, viz.: 

"5. Statistics prove that most people who are saved, are 
saved in and through special meetings, and union meetings are 
the best kind of special meetings to hold. 

"6. The financial expense is less on each church when ALL 
(or as many as will) unite. When the Christians are revived 
and souls saved, then the people will cheerfully give of their 
money. 

"7. A union meeting, with its unmeasurable blessing, is 
generally born in the heart of some one person and then like 
fire spreads. A union meeting can be held at any time or in 
any place where the pastors are willing. 

"a revival always begins with a few. 

"Reader, will you make this prayer your daily prayer until 
the answer comes : 

"O LORD, SEND A REVIVAL AND BEGIN IT IN ME. I ASK IT IN 

JESUS' NAME. AMEN. " 



Evangelism 209 

not compliance with the apostolic injunctions: 
"grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord 
and Saviour Jesus Christ"; "put on the new man, 
which, after God, is created in righteousness and 
true holiness"; not the possession of that gift 
which is above that of the tongues of men and of 
angels, above the understanding of all mysteries 
and all knowledge, and above the faith that can 
remove mountains; not the exercise of that sweet 
quiet grace which "suffereth long and is kind, en- 
vieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, . . . 
is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, . . . beareth 
all things, endureth all things. " Not all, nor any 
of these, is the Christian to regard as his main 
business, but "soul-winning." 

The terms are "(i) A call signed by the pastor or pastors. 
(2) Travelling expenses from to your city, and entertain- 
ment. (3) Free-will offering, taken in our way, for the evangelist. " 

Among the numerous circulars which have come to the author's 
hand is one containing this statement: "In three meetings at 

450 professed conversion; at 325 conversions; 90 

per cent, men in two meetings. In the meetings at 

there was one convert for about every $4.00 spent. In the 
meetings at one for every $2.00." Enclosed with the cir- 
cular was a folder in the shape of a blotter, having the likeness 
of the evangelist on the one end and that of the singer on the 
other end; and, in the middle, the programme of the meeting on 
one day in a certain town. Of the five numbers on the pro- 
gramme one is, "meeting for men only (no boys under 12 ad- 
mitted). Subject, man's sin against woman. " Another number 
is "A meeting for women only." That one of these, at least, 
was intended to be an attraction appears in a note at the bottom 
of the programme; "The special service, for men only, will be the 
greatest address the evangelist will give during the meetings. " 

14 



2io History of Religious Feeling 

The meaning of this uncouth and unscriptural 
phrase, if it be taken from the operation itself, 
is nothing more than exciting in others, by per- 
suasion and by personal sympathetic influence, 
that amount of religious emotion which, at the 
time, is held to constitute conversion and to 
secure salvation. 

We are very far from denying that every believer 
has a work to do in the propagation of our holy 
religion among his fellow-men, but we are con- 
strained to regard the method prescribed by our 
Lord as the one by which that work will be most 
effectively done. "Let your light so shine before 
men that they may see your good works and 
glorify your Father which is in heaven.* ' 

We are very far from denying that it is a duty 
of the disciple of Christ to be concerned for the 
welfare of his fellow-men; we hold the apostolic 
injunction, "Look not every man on his own 
things; but every man also on the things of 
others," 1 to be of a permanent and universal 
application. We hold that the love which goes 
out to others in self-sacrificing service, is to be 
the distinguishing characteristic of the disciple of 
Christ. But the question remains, whether that 
concern is to be devoted wholly or chiefly to any 
one particular in the welfare of others, to what 
we have come to regard as the salvation of their 
souls. The answer to this question ought to be 

*Phil. ii., 4. 



Evangelism 211 

taken from the tenor of the teaching of our Lord 
and his apostles. When Jesus sent out the twelve, 
he said unto them, "Heal the sick, cleanse the 
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils, freely ye 
have received freely give." 1 And his last com- 
mission was: "Go ye therefore, and teach all 
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching 
them to observe all things whatsoever I have 
commanded you." 2 In the first instance, he 
commands only the relief of temporal evils; in 
neither, does he command the conversion and 
saving of men. In the Judgment, those whom 
he will pronounce blessed of his Father, and 
whom the Father will bid to enter into the king- 
dom prepared for them from the foundation of 
the world, are those who have given meat to the 
hungry, drink to the thirsty, shelter to the stranger, 
clothing to the naked, and have visited the sick 
and the imprisoned. 3 It is remarkable that he 
does not once, in this connection, mention the 
converting and the saving of men. 

As often as the word saviour is used in the New 
Testament, man is not once called the saviour of 
his fellow-man. In only one instance is man 
spoken of as the agent in the conversion of another. 
The apostle James says, "Let him know that he 
which converteth the sinner from the error of his 

1 Matt, x., 7-8. a Matt, xxviii., 19-20. 

* Matt, xxvi., 34. 



212 History of Religious Feeling 

way, shall save a soul from death." 1 It appears 
that the persons James had in mind, as the objects 
of conversion, were brethren; for he prefaces his 
exhortation with the words, "Brethren, if any 
of you do err from the truth and one convert 
him: let him know that he that converteth a 
sinner. ..." 

Evidently, the word convert is not used in this 
instance in the technical sense which has been 
given to it by our evangelism; for the work of the 
evangelist is not the conversion of erring brethren 
but the saving of sinners. 

4. It is Sacerdotal in its Pretentions. It pro- 
fesses to be an efficient agent in the salvation of 
sinners. Men, by an inborn tendency, are ever 
looking for the divine to appear in human form 
and as a helper toward their higher life; it is to 
them the ideal of what man ought to be and is to 
be; and they find great pleasure in beholding in 
men any approach to that ideal. The professional 
evangelist, being almost always a stranger, known 
only by the reputation which has preceded him, 
is always taken to be such an one. His work and 
his whole carriage and manner are regarded as 
evidence that he has a special nearness to God, 
indeed that he is a veritable man of God; and it 
is to the impression prevailing among the people, 
that he is such an one, that much of his success is 
due. His especial work is to bring men to Christ 

1 James v., 20. 



Evangelism 213 

and thereby procure their salvation. He assumes 
to be an efficient intermediary between the sinner 
and Christ, which is a sacerdotal office. 

The personal presumption in the sacerdotalism 
of the Roman Catholic Church is greatly miti- 
gated, indeed almost entirely concealed, by the 
hiding of the person under the forms and vest- 
ments of the priestly office. But when a Pro- 
testant assumes to be spiritually so near to God 
and so far above his fellow-men that he may under- 
take to act as their mediator, bringing them to 
Christ and assisting them to obtain reconciliation 
with God, we have a sacerdotalism in which the 
personal presumption is without mitigation or 
covering. It is true that the evangelist persuades 
the sinner to come himself to Christ; but in so 
far as his supposed sanctity contributes to the 
success of his persuasion, he performs a sacer- 
dotal function. * 

5. Overlooks the Necessity, and Undervalues 
the Means of Spiritual Culture. — The kingdom 
of heaven is, in the heart of man, as it is in the 
world, "like to a grain of mustard seed which a 
man took and sowed in his field"; or "like unto 
leaven which a woman took and hid in three 
measures of meal": small at first, even hidden, 

1 At a revival meeting in a fairly intelligent community, 
the author once heard a noted ministerial evangelist say, when 
the unconverted were slow in rising to express their desire 
for the prayers of Christians: "Just rise and we'll try and 
get you saved to-night. " 



214 History of Religious Feeling 

yet growing and expanding by an inherent power 
of development, when placed in the proper con- 
ditions. The mustard seed must be sown where 
it will receive the sunshine, the rain, and dew of 
heaven; and it must be diligently cultivated; the 
leaven must be kept in a place which has the 
requisite warmth. It would be a foolish and 
serious mistake to neglect to provide the necessary 
conditions, in the one case, because the seed was 
"the least of all seeds"; and in the other, because 
the leaven was entirely hidden. It would be a 
like mistake to neglect spiritual culture, because 
the spiritual life was as yet hidden, not having 
manifested itself sensibly in the experience of 
conversion. 

A large part of the Christian world regards the 
covenant made with Abraham as a covenant of 
grace: a promise to be a God to Abraham's children 
in the same sense in which he was the God of 
Abraham himself, — Father, Guide, Protector, and 
Redeemer, — and they cannot believe that this 
covenant was narrowed in its comprehension by 
the coming of Christ. They believe that the 
substitution of baptism for circumcision, as the 
seal of the covenant, did not change the covenant 
itself. As the child of the Israelite was a member 
of the commonwealth of Israel, and was entitled 
to partake of the passover supper with his parents ; 
so they believe that the child of believing parents 
is a member of the church, and is entitled to 



Evangelism 215 

partake of the Lord's Supper with them: the one 
supper being a memorial of a great deliverance in 
which the lamb was a symbol of " Christ, our 
passover sacrificed for us": both being memorial 
and symbol of the greater deliverance. They 
believe that circumcision represented an inward 
circumcision, that of the heart, and that baptism 
represents an inward washing, the washing of 
regeneration; they believe that their children are 
to be brought up in the nurture and admonition 
of the Lord, not with doubt, nor even with hope, 
but with the firmest faith that the spiritual 
nurture bestowed upon them is bestowed upon the 
living, not upon the dead. They regard their 
children as babes in Christ, to be nourished with 
milk, "the sincere milk of the word," that they 
may grow thereby ; they do not wait for a spiritual 
convulsion to take place before beginning the 
nurture, and do not expect the future growth to 
come only in paroxysms; they believe that "pre- 
cept upon precept, precept upon precept; line 
upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a 
little, " from the words which have proceeded 
out of the mouth of the Lord, will be effective for 
growth towards the measure of the stature of the 
fulness of Christ. These children of the cove- 
nant are regarded by evangelism as lost sinners 
until they are converted. They may experience 
conversion ; indeed, the culture they have received 
and the privation to which they have ordinarily 



216 History of Religious Feeling 

been subjected will render them especially respon- 
sive to the influences which produce conversion; 
but to suppose that before that event they were 
children of Satan, and that only in that event 
they became children of God, is to reject the 
covenanted mercies of our God. It is probable, 
therefore, that there are many persons outside 
of the church, in whom the kingdom of God is as 
the mustard seed or as the leaven, but to whom 
the means of spiritual culture are denied on the 
ground that, not having been converted, the use 
of those means would be utterly ineffective, 
like giving nutriment to the dead. 

Spiritual progress, no matter how or when it 
began, is, in all cases, accomplished by culture, 
an advancement which is constant, and so gradual 
as to be ascertainable only by comparison of the 
state at the beginning and end of a long period of 
time. One dressing and keeping of the ground 
will not produce a blooming and fruitful Eden; 
one sunbeam, however bright, and one shower, 
however warm and copious, will not cause the 
blade to spring up into the ear with the full corn in 
the ear; one visit to the city will not impart ur- 
banity to the rustic; one evening spent in associa- 
tion with the cultured will not give refinement to 
the rude; and one visit to the museum of art will 
not endow the barbarian with a fine aesthetic 
sense; even though the impression produced by 
the magnificence of the city, the elegance of the 



Evangelism 217 

drawing-room, and the array of paintings and 
sculptures in the museum, may have been vivid 
and powerful. Neither will the raptures of con- 
version impart real spiritual elevation to the sin- 
ner. The image of God is to be restored and the 
likeness of Christ is to be obtained by continual 
converse with the truth and by constancy in prayer, 
worship, and service. Culture must, it is true, 
proceed upon conditions precedent, constitutional 
conditions, which God alone can supply. For 
this reason, we cannot accept as correct Mr. 
Matthew Arnold's definition: namely, that "Cul- 
ture is to know the best that has been thought 
and said in the world. " x It is not the knowledge, 
but the effect of the knowledge, that constitutes 
culture. Two persons may have equal knowledge, 
but the effect of the knowledge may be very differ- 
ent in the one from what it is in the other, the 
difference arising from a difference in suscepti- 
bility, which is a constitutional difference. The 
condition precedent to spiritual culture must be 
the gift of God; but the gift ought to be pre- 
supposed by every one who desires that culture; 
and there should be no waiting for the raptures of 
conversion to assure him of the bestowal. That 
condition is, in theological terms, regeneration. 
If it be admitted that the emotions of conversion 
may spring from regeneration as a blaze springs 
from the burning wood on the hearth ; yet it must 
1 Literature and Dogma, p. xxvii. 



218 History of Religious Feeling 

be remembered that the lightest material, such as 
shavings or straw, makes the largest blaze, while 
the hardest wood or coal, though it makes but 
little or no blaze, leaves an enduring bed of 
glowing coals. It would be a woful mistake to 
go out from that bed and shiver in the winter 
blast, because no blaze appeared. A no less 
woful mistake would it be to neglect the means 
of spiritual culture, or to use them in a doubting, 
hopeless mood, waiting for the raptures of con- 
version to come. It must be conceded that the 
idea of conversion, now prevalent in a large part 
of the Christian world, is productive of some 
good, in that it leads a certain number of persons 
to make faithful use of the means of spiritual 
culture who, but for that, might never have done 
so. But it can hardly be denied that it is pro- 
ductive of some evil, in that it has laid a dis- 
couragement, if not a prohibition, on a certain 
number of others who, but for that, might have 
made profitable use of those means. 1 The ques- 

1 The growing disbelief of the common doctrine, that only the 
converted are Christians, that only they are saved, that only 
they may use the means of spiritual culture with the hope of 
benefit; that the unconverted are not Christians, that they are 
unsaved, and that the means of spiritual culture, however 
sincerely and assiduously used, will be of no benefit to them, has 
come to a very distinct expression both within and without the 
church. 

Within, it appears in the fact that certain large denominations 
which, not many years ago, required a conversion of a very pro- 
nounced character as a condition of membership, are now pro- 



Evangelism 219 

tion whether the good overbalances the evil will 
be easily determined; for, if there is a moral 
government of the world, it will forbid us to 
suppose that an error will ever exceed a truth in 
the production of good. 

claiming their willingness to accept a simple decision as sufficient, 
saying nothing about any degree of emotion with which the 
decision should be made, and have appointed a "decision-day," 
which they recommend to be observed annually or semi-annually 
by all their Sunday-schools and churches. 

Without the church, it appears in the religious character 
which has been given to the various orders and societies organized 
by men for their mutual benefit. These societies require good 
character, but not conversion, as a condition of membership. 
They have provided themselves with some of the means of 
spiritual culture; they have more or less of religious ritual in 
their regular exercises ; and have a burial service for their deceased 
members, in which there is affirmation of the essential truths of 
Christianity, prayer and exhortation. Great numbers of men, 
unable to admit the momentous issues which the church declares 
to be dependent upon conversion, and unwilling to accept a 
position in which the profession of so immense a difference 
between themselves and their fellow-men is implied, have aban- 
doned all thought of ever uniting with the church. The church, 
therefore, rejects, as not being Christians and as unsaved, men 
who really desire to possess a spiritual character and to obtain 
spiritual growth, men who might equal, in efficiency and worthi- 
ness, many of its accepted members, causing that reduction in 
the proportion of men in its membership which is beginning to be 
more and more conspicuous, 39.3 per cent, in all Protestant 
churches being males, 60.7 per cent, being females. — Bulletin 
of U. S. Census Bureau, August 19, 1909. 



CHAPTER IV 
Repentance and Forgiveness 

THE ethical sense, which has for its object the 
perception of right and wrong, is one of 
the faculties with which Nature has endowed all 
mankind. It is like the other senses, in that its 
action is attended with feelings, either pleasant 
or unpleasant; in that its perceptions may occa- 
sionally be illusory, and the judgments, based 
thereon, erroneous also; in that it may be dulled 
by evil habits, but it is unlike them in that it 
cannot be destroyed. It is like the aesthetic 
sense, which has beauty for its object and gives 
both pleasure and pain to the artist. He is 
pained at the dulness of that sense and at his 
inability to give full expression to his conception. 
The painful feeling is strengthened if, beside the 
ideal springing up in his mind, he have a model of 
the perfect before him, but this pain is a necessary 
condition of success in his work. "Made perfect 
through suffering" is the law of human progress 
in this world. Pleasant feelings attend the per- 
ception of what in being or doing is thought to be 

220 



Repentance and Forgiveness 221 

right, and painful feelings attend what is thought 
to be wrong. These feelings are strengthened by 
the impression that right and wrong affect the 
personal welfare. That this impression is sure to 
come, and that it has become general, is shown, 
among other things, by the maxim that honesty 
is the best policy. These feelings are still further 
strengthened when the idea of a God comes into 
the mind, especially if it be of a God who is holy, 
just, and good; who made the world and governs 
it; to whom, as his Creator, man is rightfully 
subject. 

One of the striking peculiarities of this world 
is that things are never all that man would wish 
them to be; there are in it many good things, but 
there are many evil things also, — troubles, mis- 
fortunes, and sufferings; and the mingled good 
and evil go on to the worst of all evils, death. 
The evils cannot be explained as the wanton in- 
flictions of a good God; the only reasonable 
explanation is to be found in the two facts that 
God is just as well as good, and that man is a 
sinner, "Sin entered into the world and death by 
sin ; so death passed upon all men for that all have 
sinned." 1 It is, therefore, the most important 
practical concern of man to obtain the forgive- 
ness of his sins. To this end certain preliminary 
conditions, both on the part of God and on the 
part of man, are necessary. This necessity arises 

1 Rom. v., 12. 



222 History of Religious Feeling 

from the fact that freedom is the prerogative of 
rational creatures. No government, either human 
or divine, may force such creatures to do right ; it 
must affix a penalty to the law, leaving the subject 
free to choose between obedience and the penalty of 
disobedience. The irrational creatures, subject to 
our government, have no such freedom; we force 
them to obey our commands. If the law of God 
is a law of life, the penalty of disobedience is, as a 
matter of course, death. Two things preliminary 
to forgiveness on the part of God are necessary: 
I. That some provision be made for the removal 
of the penalty from the sinner. 2. That the 
provision for its removal shall not be made futile 
by the necessity of a subsequent infliction of it. 
Provision has been made to meet both of these 
requirements. "God so loved the world that he 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieveth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
lasting life." That Son "put away sins by the 
sacrifice of himself/ ' "He bear our sins in his 
own body on the tree." "There is, therefore, 
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ 
Jesus." He also sends his creating Spirit into 
the heart of man, giving him a new birth, implant- 
ing a new life in which, when fully developed, 
there will be no possibility of sinning. 

Repentance. The preliminary condition to for- 
giveness, on the part of man, is that it must be 
sought; but it will not be sought until the sinner 



Repentance and Forgiveness 223 

feels keenly the painfulness of not being and 
doing right, and feels also his inability to remove 
the penalty of his sins and to create in himself 
a new heart, which feeling is repentance. 

It was, therefore, in accordance with the nature 
of things that John the Baptist, who was sent to 
prepare the way for the coming Lord, should 
preach the baptism of repentance ; natural also that 
it should be said of Jesus : ' ' Him hath God exalted, 
with his right hand, to be a Prince and Saviour for 
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of 
sins." 1 

Confession. If the penitent feels not only that 
his sin has brought suffering and death upon him- 
self but that it has been an offence against God, he 
will be moved to confession; and the feeling which 
may have been vague and general will be rendered 
definite and specific, by the effort to give it expres- 
sion, thus making the desire for forgiveness more 
urgent; but, this having taken place, he may be 
assured of forgiveness; for "if we confess our sins, 
he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and 
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 2 The 
penitent can find no truer expression of his pain- 
ful feeling than these: "Against thee, and thee 
only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight : 
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, 
and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was 
shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother 

1 Acts v., 31. 2 1 John i., 9. 



224 History of Religious Feeling 

conceive me." 1 The forgiven sinner can find no 
words that moretruly describe his experience than 
these: "When I kept silence, my bones waxed 
old through my roaring all the day long. . . . 
I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the 
Lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. " 2 
It is true that when repentance has once been 
made and forgiveness has once been granted, 
salvation has been obtained; nevertheless, we are 
taught to pray daily, "Forgive us our trespasses.' ' 
We need, therefore, daily repentance and daily 
forgiveness. 

May it not be that the joy of forgiveness comes 
by a natural reaction from the pain of repentance 
as the crested waves in the waters of the sea 
follow the trough; the one being the occasional 
cause of the other and the efficient cause of both 
being the invisible breath of heaven. Are they 
not doing despite unto the goodness of God who 
purposely postpone repentance until it shall have 
come to them in a way which they suppose to be 
miraculous, and then repent no more nor seek the 
forgiveness of their sins? Might not the daily 
prayer of the forgiven penitent be, "Have mercy 
on me, O God, according to thy loving kindness; 
according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, 
blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly 
from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. " 3 

It is true that the Spirit of God acts directly 

1 Ps. li., 4-5. 2 Ps. xxxii. , 3-5. ' 3 p s . li., 1-2. 



Repentance and Forgiveness 225 

upon the heart of the sinner to give repentance 
as he gives the new birth, but is it not in the 
one case as we are told that it is in the other, the 
action is not perceptible by the person in whom 
it takes place. It may be presumed that God, 
in giving repentance to men, would utilize all the 
natural means that tend to that result — that he 
would employ his providence in accomplishing 
the purposes of his grace. Among these means 
two may be mentioned: 

1. The Goodness of God. When the sinner 
comes to realize that God "is the Father of lights, 
from whom cometh down every good gift and 
every perfect gift"; realizes that "he has not left 
himself without witness, in that he did good and 
he gave us rain from heaven and fruitful season, 
rilling our hearts with food and gladness"; if he 
looks abroad, he has to say "the whole earth is 
full of thy riches"; when he looks back upon his 
own life, he has to say, "Many, O Lord, my God, 
are the wonderful works which thou hast done and 
thy thoughts which are to usward; they cannot 
be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would 
declare and speak of them, they are more than 
can be numbered"; when he remembers that he 
has been like the heathen who, "when they knew 
God, they glorified him not as God, neither were 
thankful, — " they did not like to retain God in 
their knowledge, — he will sorrow that he has so 
acted not knowing that the "goodness and for- 



226 History of Religious Feeling 

bearance, and longsuffering, of God leadeth thee 
... to repentance." 1 

2. The Love of God in Giving His Son to be 
a Sacrifice for Sin. When the sinner beholds the 
innocent one suffering unto death the dreadful 
agonies of the cross and remembers that he was 
" wounded for our transgression and bruised for 
our iniquities," the spectacle will operate as a 
powerful natural means to bring him to repentance. 
Thomas Carlyle well said that " of all acts for man, 
is not repentance the most divine?" 2 In view of 
the freedom and responsibility of man, and of the 
mode of the Spirit's action, does he not suffer 
incalculable loss who delays repentance till a 
sensible action of the Spirit takes place in his 
heart? 

1 Rom. ii., 4. * Heroes and Hero Worship, p. 36. 



CHAPTER V 
The Evangelism Needed 

THERE is a work which an agency like our 
modern evangelism might well undertake to 
do — the elevation of the tone of religious feeling 
in Christian people, the quickening of their spirit- 
ual life, a work which the Roman Catholic Church 
is doing by its "missions." It is a work which is 
always greatly needed, and, if done, its reflex 
influence upon the world would be felt everywhere. 
The invitation, "Come thou with us and we will 
do thee good," would be accepted by larger 
numbers than those who now respond to the call 
of the evangelist: and entering upon a course of 
spiritual culture would be continually growing in 
grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

For the use of the means of spiritual culture, 
there are special encouragements. In the first 
place, those who are engaged in the pursuit of it 
have an organic unity, like that of the human 
body; one life pervades them all, creating a com- 
mon sympathy and leading to a mutual co-opera- 
227 



228 History of Religious Feeling 

tion. "The whole body, fitly joined together 
and compacted by that which every joint sup- 
plieth, according to the effectual working in the 
measure of every part, maketh increase of the 
body, unto the edifying of itself in love." In 
the second place, there is a spiritual presence ever 
with us, like the atmosphere, in which we "live 
and move and have our being"; a loving but 
invisible Providence, which is disposed to favor 
our efforts by adding the divine energy to our 
own, and by combining all circumstances pro- 
pitiously for the work. It is the same immanent 
potency, the effect of which we see in the progress 
that has been made, from the time when "the 
earth was without form and void, and darkness 
was upon the face of the deep" to the present 
time of organization and light; the potency that 
has led on the development, from the algae of the 
Archaic Age and the invertebrates of the Silurian 
Age, to the multiform flora and fauna of the 
present age, of which man, though still imperfect, 
is the crown and glory. 

Furthermore, it will be proper for evangelism 
to endeavor to produce in all men, if possible, an 
experience like that of the raptures of conversion 
or the ecstasies of mysticism. The susceptibility 
to such experiences must be presumed to have 
been implanted in our nature by the Creator to 
serve some good purpose. These feelings, when 
aroused, give us one of our purest and most 



The Evangelism Needed 229 

exalted pleasures, and it will be perfectly proper 
to seek the pleasure for its own sake, even though 
we are unable to comprehend the purpose it was 
intended to serve. We employ the dramatic art, 
fiction, music, and all the fine arts for this purpose. 
It is true that this kind of enjoyment may become 
a dissipation, but the abuse of that which is good 
is not ground enough for the condemnation of its 
proper use. The religious rapture will be of short 
duration, as nature has not energy enough to 
make it perpetual; and, once experienced, it may 
not return again. But the memory of it will be 
a precious possession; it will steady the walk, and 
hasten the progress, in the path of life, just as 
the first passionate love of husband and wife, 
though not enduring, yet is sweet in the memory, 
and tends to the maintenance of a steady devotion 
and a constant affection. Blessed will be the 
evangelism that shall do this work without at- 
taching to the experience it reproduces such 
momentous consequences as the translation from 
the wrath into the love of God, the transition 
from a destiny of eternal torment in hell to a 
destiny of everlasting joy in heaven. Neither 
our Lord nor any of the apostles taught that the 
rapture was an essential constituent of the faith, 
by means of which this change is accomplished. 



Appendix 



231 



EXAMPLES OF CONVERSION 

Gathered from a Wide Range of Space 
and Time 

IT is remarkable that no cases of conversion are to be 
found in the Old Testament. Cain and Esau had 
the painful feeling of repentance, but we are not told 
that it was followed by that joyful sense of forgiveness 
which is now held to be an essential constituent of 
conversion. 

Only four cases of conversion are recorded in the 
New Testament, that of Peter, of Paul, of Cornelius 
and those who were assembled with him to hear the 
words of Peter, and of the jailer at Philippi; and in all 
of these cases either the antecedent depression or the 
subsequent exaltation of feeling was wanting. Peter's 
conversion occurred long after he had been acknow- 
ledged by the Lord to be a true disciple. 

St. Augustine (a.d. 354-430), in making record of 
his conversion, says: 

"Such was the story of Pontitianus. But thou, O 
Lord, while he was speaking, didst turn me towards 
myself, taking me from behind my back, where I had 
placed myself while unwilling to exercise self-scrutiny ; 
and thou didst set me face to face with myself, that I 
233 



234 Appendix 

might behold how foul I was, and how crooked and 
sordid, bespotted and ulcerous. And I beheld and 
loathed myself; and whither to fly from myself I 
discovered not. And if I sought to turn my gaze 
away from myself, thou again opposedst me unto 
myself, and thrustedst me before my own eyes, that 
I might discover my iniquity and hate it. . . . Thus 
was I sick, and tormented, accusing myself far more 
severely than was my wont, tossing and turning me 
in my chain, till that was utterly broken, whereby 
I now was but slightly held. And thou O Lord 
pressedst upon me in my inward parts by a severe 
mercy, redoubling the lashes of fear and shame, lest 
I should again give way, and that same remaining 
slender tie, not being broken off, it should recover 
strength, and enchain me the faster. For I said 
mentally, *Lo, let it be now, let it be now.' And as I 
spoke, I all but came to a resolve, I all but did it, yet 
did it not. . . . The very toys of toys, and vanities 
of vanities, my old mistresses, still enthralled me; 
they shook my fleshly garments and whispered softly, 
'Dost thou part with us? And from that moment 
shall we no more be with thee *f or ever?' . . . Yet 
they did delay me, so that I hesitated to burst and 
shake myself free from them and to leap whither I 
was called, — an unruly habit saying to me, 'Dost 
thou think thou canst live without them?' . . . 

"But when a profound reflection had, from the 
depths of my soul, drawn together and heaped up 
all my misery before the sight of my heart, there arose 
a mighty storm, accompanied by as mighty a shower 
of tears, which, that I might pour forth fully, with its 
natural expressions, I stole away from Alypius: for it 



Examples of Conversion 235 

suggested itself to me that solitude was fitter for the 
business of weeping. ... I flung myself down, how, 
I know not, under a certain fig tree, giving free course 
to my tears, and the streams of mine eyes gushed out, 
an acceptable sacrifice to thee. And, not indeed in 
these words, yet to this effect, spake I much to thee, 
. . . 'But thou O Lord, how long?' 'How long 
Lord? Wilt thou be angry for ever? Oh remember 
not against us former iniquities' ; for I felt that I was 
enthralled by them. I sent up these sorrowful 
cries, . . . 'How long, how long? To-morrow, and 
to-morrow? Why not now? Why is there not this 
hour an end to my uncleanness? , I was saying these 
things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of 
my heart, when lo, I heard the voice of a boy or girl, 
I know not which, coming from a neighboring house, 
chanting and oft repeating, 'Take up and read; take 
up and read.' Immediately my countenance was 
changed. . ._ ^ So, restraining the torrent of my 
tears, I rose up interpreting it no other way than as a 
command to me from heaven, to open the book and 
to read the first chapter I should light upon. For 
I heard of Antony that, accidentally coming in whilst 
the gospel was being read, he received the admonition 
as if what was read were addressed to him, 'Go and 
sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou 
shalt have treasures in heaven; and come and follow 
me.' And by such oracle was he forthwith converted 
unto thee. So quickly I returned to the place where 
Alypius was sitting; for there had I put down the 
volume of the apostles, when I rose thence. I 
grasped, opened, and in silence read that paragraph 
on which my eyes first fell, . . . 'Not in rioting and 



236 Appendix 

drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, 
not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord 
Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to 
fulfil the lusts thereof.' No further would I read, 
nor did I read; for instantly, as the sentence ended, — 
by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart, 
— all the gloom of doubt vanished away. "* 

Martin Luther (1 483-1 546) . At the age of eighteen 
Luther entered the University of Erfurt, where, being 
studious and of a serious turn of mind, he gave himself 
diligently to his books and earnestly implored the 
divine blessing on his studies. After taking his degree, 
he devoted himself, in accordance with his father's 
earnest desire, but not in accordance with his own 
preference, to the study of law. One morning 
it was reported that Alexis, a fellow student and 
intimate friend, had been assassinated, and on re- 
pairing to the spot, he found the report to be true. 
It affected him deeply. He said to himself, "what 
would become of me, if I should be so suddenly called 
away" ; and his mind was troubled by the continually 
recurring question. Not long afterwards, as he was 
returning from a visit to his home, and was nearing 
Erfurt, he was overtaken by a violent thunderstorm 
and the lightning struck the ground at his side. He 
was so terrified that he fell upon his knees and vowed 
that, if God would deliver him from this danger, he 
would devote his life to his service. But he must be- 
come holy in order to serve the Holy One acceptably. 
He now thirsted for holiness, as he had thirsted for 

1 Confessions, Book XIII, chapters ix-xii. 



Examples of Conversion 237 

knowledge; but where is it to be found? In seclusion 
from the world. One evening he invited some of his 
college friends to a little feast; and when the gaiety 
was at its height, he announced his determination 
to his friends. They opposed it, but in vain. It was 
his farewell to the world. At the age of twenty- two, 
he was admitted to the convent of the Augustinians 
at Erfurt. He continued his studies, but he was 
seeking holiness more than knowledge, and perused 
diligently the writings of the fathers, especially those 
of St. Augustine. He sought holiness by faithful 
obedience to the rules of the monastic life, by the 
most arduous and menial labors of the monastery, 
and by the most rigorous mortifications of the flesh. 
Often a little bread and a single herring were his only 
food; and, for days together, he would go without 
food or drink. One day he shut himself in his cell 
and would allow no one to approach him; and when 
the door was broken open, he was found stretched on 
the floor, unconscious, and without any signs of life, 
and would doubtless have perished but for the inter- 
ference of his brethren. Yet, withal, he found not the 
holiness he was seeking. The vicar-general, the wise 
and good Staupitz, observing him, was attracted to 
him, and conversed sympathetically with him about 
his spiritual troubles. He said to the young man, 
"Look to the wound of Jesus Christ, to the blood 
which he has shed for you ; it is there you will see the 
mercy of God. Instead of torturing yourself for 
your faults, cast yourself into the arms of your Re- 
deemer. Trust in him, in the righteousness of his 
life, in the expiatory sacrifice of his death. Do not 
shrink from him ; God is not against you ; it is you who 



238 Appendix 

are estranged and averse from God." The answer 
was, "How can I dare to believe in the favor of God, 
so long as there is in me no real conversion. I must 
be changed before he can receive me." "There is," 
said Staupitz, '/no true repentance but that which 
begins in the love of God and of righteousness. In 
order to be filled with the love of that which is good, 
you must first be filled with the love of God. If you 
wish to be really converted, do not follow these 
mortifications and penances. Love him who first 
loved you." Touched by these words, he consulted 
the Scriptures, looking up all that they say about 
repentance and conversion. While thus engaged, 
a new light fell upon the words. "Before," he says, 
"there was no word in the Scripture more bitter to 
me than repentance. But now there is not one more 
sweet and pleasant to me." Yet he had not the joy 
of forgiveness. One day he cried out in the presence 
of Staupitz, ' ' Oh ! my sin ! my sin ! ' ' when his venerable 
friend said to him, "Well would you be only the sem- 
blance of a sinner, and have only the semblance of a 
Saviour? Know that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of 
those even who are real and great sinners, and deserv- 
ing of utter condemnation." With these distressing 
doubts about his spiritual condition came speculative 
doubts about God and his works, so that, as yet, 
he found no peace. One day during his second year 
in the monastery, when he was overwhelmed with 
despair, an old monk entered his cell and spoke kindly 
to him. Luther opened his heart to him, and the old 
man simply repeated to him the statement in the 
Apostle's Creed: "I believe in the forgiveness of 
sins." He was on a bed of sickness, suffering from a 



Examples of Conversion 239 

malady which brought him near to death, and his 
anxiety about his spiritual condition had been intense. 
Upon his hearing these words from the monk, a 
sudden reaction took place, and he exclaimed, "I 
believe, I believe in the forgiveness of sins." From 
that moment he believed himself to be converted and 
accepted of God. One day, shortly after his recovery, 
he was engaged in a holy solemnity and a gorgeous 
service, and when he came to chant the words, "O 
blessed fault, to merit such a Redeemer," it is said 
that his whole being answered, Amen, and was thrilled 
with joy. He endeavored to show unto others the 
path in which he had found this joy. Writing to one 
of his brethren of the convent of Erfurt, George Spen- 
lein, he says, "I would like much to know how it is 
with your soul. Is it not weary of its own righteous- 
ness? . . . does it not breathe and confide in the 
righteousness of Christ? . . . O my dear brother, learn 
to know Christ and Christ crucified. Learn to sing 
unto him a new song ; to despair of thyself, and say, 
'Thou, Lord Jesus! thou art my righteousness, and 
I am thy son. Thou hast taken what was mine, and 
given me what was thine. What thou wert not, thou 
hast become; in order that, what I was not, I might be- 
come. ' Meditate carefully on this love of Christ, and 
thou wilt derive ineffable blessing from it. If our lab- 
ors and our afflictions could give us peace of conscience, 
why should Christ have died? Thou wilt find peace 
in him, by despairing of thy works, and learning with 
what love he opens his arms to thee ; takes upon him 
all thy sins, and gives thee all his righteousness." 

John Bunyan (1628-1688). In the account of his 



240 Appendix 

life written by himself, Bunyan says: "It was my 
delight to be taken captive by the devil at his will, 
being filled with all unrighteousness; the which did 
also so strongly work, and put forth itself, both in my 
heart and life, and that from a child, that I had but 
few equals, (especially considering my years, which 
were tender, being few,) both for cursing, swearing, 
lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God. Yea, 
so settled and rooted was I in these things, as I have 
also with soberness considered since, did so offend the 
Lord, that even in my childhood he did scare and 
affrighten me with fearful dreams, and did terrify 
me with fearful visions. For, often, after I had 
spent this and the other day in sin, I have in my bed 
been greatly afflicted, while asleep, with the appre- 
hensions of devils and wicked spirits, who still, as I 
then thought, labored to draw me away with them, of 
which I could never be rid. 

"Also, I should at these years be greatly afflicted 
and troubled with thoughts of the fearful torments of 
hell-fire; still fearing that it would be my lot to be 
found at last among those devils and hellish fiends, 
who are there bound down with the chains and bonds 
of darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. 
These things, I say, when I was but a child but nine 
or ten years old, did so distress my soul, that then in 
the midst of my many sports and childish vanities, 
amidst my vain companions, I was often much cast 
down and afflicted in my mind therewith : yet I could 
not let go my sins: yea, I was also then so overcome 
with despair of life and heaven, that I would often 
wish, either that there had been no hell, or that I had 
been a devil; supposing they were only tormentors; 



Examples of Conversion 241 

that if it must needs be that I went thither, I might 
be rather a tormentor than be tormented myself. 

"Awhile after, those terrible dreams did leave me, 
which also I soon forgot; for my pleasures did soon 
cut off the remembrance of them as if they had never 
been; wherefore, with more greediness, according to 
the strength of nature, I did still let loose the reins 
of my lust, and delighted in all transgressions against 
the law of God; so that until I came to the state of 
marriage, I was the very ring-leader of all the youth 
that kept me company, in all manner of vice and un- 
godliness. . . . Presently after this, I changed my 
condition into a married state, and my mercy was to 
light upon a wife whose father was counted godly: 
this woman and I, though we came together as poor 
as poor might be, (not having so much household 
stuff as a dish or spoon betwixt us both,) yet this she 
had for her part, The Plain Man's Pathway to Heaven; 
and The Practice of Piety; which her father had left 
her when he died. In these two books I would some- 
times read with her, wherein I also found some things 
that were somewhat pleasing to me (but all this while 
I met with no conviction.) Wherefore these books, 
with the relation, though they did not reach my 
heart, to awaken my sad and sinful state, yet they 
did beget within me some desires to reform my vicious 
life, and fall in very eagerly with the religion of the 
times; to wit, to go to church twice a day, and that 
too with the foremost ; and there would very devoutly 
both say and sing as others did, yet retaining my 
wicked life. ... But one day (amongst all the ser- 
mons our parson made) his subject was to treat of 
the Sabbath-day, and the evil of breaking that, 



242 Appendix 

either with labor, sports, or otherwise: (now I was, 
notwithstanding my religion, one that took much 
delight in all manner of vice, and especially that was 
the way I did solace myself therewith :) wherefore I 
fell in my conscience under this sermon, thinking and 
believing that he made that sermon on purpose to 
show me my evil doing. And at that time, I felt what 
guile was, though never before that I can remember; 
but then I was, for the present, greatly loaded there- 
with, and so went home when the sermon was ended, 
with a great burden upon my spirit. This, for that 
instant, did benumb the sinews of my delight and did 
embitter my former pleasures to me: but behold it 
lasted not: for before I had well dined, the trouble 
began to go off my mind, and my heart returned to its 
old course: but oh! how glad I was that this trouble 
was gone from me, and that the fire was put out, that 
I might sin again without control. Wherefore, when 
I had satisfied nature with my food, I shook the ser- 
mon out of my mind, and to my old custom of sports 
and gaming I returned with great delight. But, the 
same day, as I was in the midst of a game of cat, and 
having struck it one blow from the hole, just as I was 
about to strike it the second time, a voice did suddenly 
dart from heaven into my soul which said, Wilt thou 
leave thy sins and go to heaven, or have thy sins and 
go to hell? At this I was put to an exceeding maze; 
wherefore, leaving my hat on the ground, I looked 
up to heaven, and was as if I had, with the eyes of 
my understanding, seen the Lord Jesus looking down 
upon me, as being very hotly displeased with me, and 
as if he did severely threaten me with some grievous 
punishment for these and other ungodly practices. I 



Examples of Conversion 243 

had no sooner thus conceived in my mind, but sud- 
denly this conclusion was fastened on my spirit, 
(for the former hint did set my sins again before my 
face,) that I had been a great and grievous sinner, and 
that it was now too late for me to look after heaven ; 
for Christ would not forgive me, nor pardon my 
transgressions. Then I fell to musing on this also ; and 
while I was thinking of it, and fearing lest it should 
be so, I felt my heart sink in despair, concluding it 
was too late ; and therefore I resolved in my mind to 
go on in sin; for, thought I, if the case be thus, my 
state is surely miserable; miserable if I leave my sins, 
and but miserable if I follow them; I can but be 
damned; and if it must be so, I had as good be damned 
for many sins as be damned for few. Thus I stood 
in the midst of my play before all that then were 
present; but yet I told them nothing: but I say, 
having made this conclusion, I returned desperately 
to my sport again, and I well remember, that presently 
this kind of despair did so possess my soul, that I was 
persuaded I could never attain to other comforts 
than what I should get in sin; for heaven was gone 
already, so that, on that I must not think; wherefore 
I found within me great desire to take my fill of sin, 
still studying what sin was yet to be committed, that 
I might taste the sweetness of it ; and I made as much 
haste as I could to fill my belly with its delicacies, 
lest I should die before I had my desires; for that I 
feared greatly. . . . Now therefore I went on in sin 
with great greediness of mind, still grudging that I 
could not be satisfied with it as I would. This did 
continue with me about a month or more; but one 
day, as I was standing at a neighbor's shop-window, 



244 Appendix 

and there cursing and swearing and playing the mad- 
man, after my wonted manner, there sat within the 
woman of the house and heard me; who, though she 
was a very loose and ungodly wretch, yet protested 
that I swore and cursed at that most fearful rate, 
that she was made to tremble to hear me ; and told me 
further, that I was the ungodliest fellow for swearing 
that she ever heard in all her life; and that I, by thus 
doing, was able to spoil all the youth in the whole 
town, if they came but in my company. At this re- 
proof I was silent, and put to secret shame; and that 
too, as I thought, before the God of heaven. . . . 
But how it came to pass, I know not, I did, from this 
time forward, so leave my swearing that it was a 
great wonder to myself to observe it. . . . All this 
while I knew not Jesus Christ, neither did I leave my 
sports and plays. But quickly after this I fell in to 
company with one poor man that made profession 
of religion; who, as I then thought, did talk pleasantly 
of the Scriptures, and of the matter of religion: where- 
fore, falling into some love and liking to what he said, 
I betook me to the Bible, and began to take great 
pleasure in reading, but especially with the historical 
part thereof; for, as for Paul's Epistles, and such-like 
scriptures, I could not away with them, being as yet 
ignorant of the corruption of my nature, or of the 
want and worth of Jesus Christ to save us. Where- 
fore I fell to some outward reformation both in my 
words and life, and did set the commandments before 
me for my way to heaven: which commandments I 
also did strive to keep; and, as I thought, did keep 
them pretty well sometimes, and then should break 
one, and so afflict my conscience; but then I would re- 



Examples of Conversion 245 

pent and say I was sorry for it, and promise God to do 
better next time, and there got help again: for then I 
thought I pleased God as well as any man in England. 
Thus I continued about a year; all which time our 
neighbors did take me to be a very godly man, a 
new and religious man, and did marvel much to see 
such great and famous alteration in my life and man- 
ners; and indeed so it was, though I knew not Christ, 
nor grace, nor faith, nor hope. ... I was proud of 
my godliness, and indeed, I did all that I did either to 
be seen of, or to be well spoken of, by men; and thus 
I continued for about a twelve-month or more. . . . 
Upon a day, the good providence of God called me to 
Bedford, to work at my calling; and in one of the 
streets of that town, I came where there were three 
or four poor women sitting at a door in the sun, talking 
about the things of God; and, being now willing to 
hear their discourse, I drew nearer to hear what they 
said for I was now a brisk talker of myself in matters 
of religion ; but I may say I heard but understood not, 
for they were far above, out of my reach. Their talk 
was about a new birth, the work of God in their 
hearts, as also how they were convinced of their 
miserable state by nature; they talked how God had 
visited their souls with his love in the Lord Jesus, and 
with what words and promises they were refreshed, 
comforted, and supported against the temptations of 
the devil. . . . They also discoursed of their own 
wickedness of heart, and of their unbelief: and did 
condemn, slight, and abhor their own righteousness 
as filthy, and insufficient to do them any good. And 
methought they spake as if joy did make them speak, 
they spake with such pleasantness of Scripture Ian- 



246 Appendix 

guage, and with such appearance of grace in all they 
said, that they were to me as if they had found a new 
world; as if they were people that dwelt alone, and were 
not to be reckoned among their neighbors. At this, 
I felt my own heart begin to shake, and mistrust my 
own condition to be naught; for I saw that, in all my 
thoughts about religion and salvation, the new birth 
did never enter into my mind; neither knew I the 
comfort of the word and promise, nor the deceit- 
fulness and treachery of my own wicked heart. . . . 
Thus therefore when I had heard and considered what 
they said, I left them, and went about my employment 
again, but their talk and discourse went with me; 
also my heart would tarry with them for I was greatly 
affected with their words, both because by them I was 
convinced that I wanted the true token of a truly 
goldly man, and also because by them I was con- 
vinced of the happy and blessed condition of him that 
was such a one. Therefore I would often make it 
my business to be going again and again into the 
company of these poor people; for I could not stay 
away; and the more I went among them, the more I 
did question my condition: and as I still remember, 
presently I found two things within me, at which I 
did sometimes marvel (especially considering what 
a blind, ignorant, sordid, and ungodly wretch, but 
just before I was). The one was a very great softness 
and tenderness of heart, which caused me to fall 
under conviction of what by Scripture they asserted : 
and the other was a great bending of my mind, to a 
continual meditating on it, and all other good things 
which at any time I heard or read of . . . . 'And now, 
methought, I began to look into the Bible with new 



Examples of Conversion 247 

eyes, and read as I never did before, and especially 
the Epistles of the apostle St. Paul were sweet and 
pleasant to me, and indeed then I was never out of the 
Bible, either by reading or meditation; still crying to 
God, that I might know the truth, and way to heaven 
and glory. . . . Now also I would pray wherever 
I was, whether at home or abroad, in house or field, 
and would also often, with lifting up of heart, sing 
that fifty-first Psalm, 'O Lord, consider my distress:' 
for as yet I knew not where I was. Neither as yet 
could I attain to any comfortable persuasion that I 
had faith in Christ ; but instead of having satisfaction 
here, I began to find my soul to be assaulted with 
fresh doubts about my future happiness; especially 
with such as these . . . whether I was elected or not? 
But how, if the day of grace should be past and 
gone? . . . Thus I continued about a year. . . . 
About this time I began to break my mind to those poor 
people in Bedford, and to tell them my condition; 
which when they had heard they told Mr. GifTord 
of me, who himself took occasion to talk with me; and 
was willing to be persuaded of me, though I think, 
from little ground. . . . Further, in these days, I 
would find my heart to shut itself up against the 
Lord and his Holy Word: I have found my unbelief to 
set, as it were, the shoulder to the door to keep him 
out; and that too even when I have with many a 
bitter sigh, cried, Good Lord, break it open; Lord 
break these gates of brass, and cut these bars of iron 
asunder. ... In this condition I went a great while : 
but when the comforting time was come, I heard one 
preach a sermon on these words in the Song, 'Behold 
thou art fair, my love; behold thou art fair.' But 



248 Appendix 

at that time he made these two words, 'My love/ 
his subject-matter: from which, after he had a little 
opened the text, he observed these several conclusions : 
1. That the church, and so every saved soul, is 
Christ's love, when love-less. Christ's love without 
cause. 2. Christ's love, which hath been hated 
of the world. 3. Christ's love, when under tempta- 
tion and under destruction. 4. Christ's love, from 
first to last. But I got nothing from what he said at 
present ; only when he came to the application of the 
fourth particular, this was the word he said: 'If it be 
so that the saved soul is Christ's love, when under 
temptation and destruction, then poor tempted soul, 
when thou art assaulted, and afflicted with tempta- 
tions, and the hidings of face, then think of these two 
words, " My love, " still. ' So, as I was coming home, 
these words came again into my thoughts ; and I well 
remember, as they came in, I said thus to my heart, 
What shall I get by thinking on these two words? 
This thought had no sooner passed through my heart 
but these words began thus to kindle in my spirit, 
'Thou art my love, thou art my love,' twenty 
times together: and still as they ran in my mind they 
waxed stronger and warmer, and began to make 
me look up : but being as yet between hope and fear, 
I still replied in my heart, But is it true? but is it 
true? At which that sentence fell upon me, 'He wist 
not that it was true which was done unto him of the 
angel. ' Then I began to give place to the word which, 
with power, did over and over make this joyful sound 
within my soul : ' Thou art my love, thou art my love, * 
and nothing shall separate thee from my love. And 
with that my heart was filled full of comfort and hope ; 



Examples of Conversion 249 

and now I could believe that my sins would be for- 
given me ; yea I was now so taken with the love and 
mercy of God, that I remember I could not tell how 
to contain till I got home: I thought I could have 
spoken of his love, and told of his mercy to me, even 
to the very crows that sat upon the ploughed lands 
before me, had they been capable to have understood 
me; wherefore I said in my soul with much gladness, 
Well, would I had a pen and ink here, I would write 
this down before I go any further; for surely I shall 
not forget this in forty years hence." 

Jonathan Edwards (1 703-1 758). See p. 85. 

David Brainerd (17 18-1747). I* 1 the account 
Brainerd has given of himself, he says: "I was from 
my youth somewhat sober, and inclined rather to 
melancholy than the contrary extreme; but do not 
remember anything of conviction of sin, worthy of 
remark, till I was, I believe, seven or eight years of 
age. Then I became concerned for my soul, and 
terrified at the thoughts of death, and was driven to 
the performance of duties: but it appeared a melan- 
choly business, and destroyed my eagerness for play. 
And though, alas! this religious concern was but 
short-lived, I sometimes attended secret prayer; 
and thus lived at 'ease in Zion, without God in the 
world,' and without much concern, as I remember, 
till I was above thirteen years of age. But some 
time in the year 1732, I was roused out of carnal 
security, by I scarce know what means at first; but 
was much excited by the prevailing of a mortal sick- 
ness in Haddam. I was frequent, constant, and 



250 . Appendix 

somewhat fervent, in duties; and took delight in 
reading, especially Mr. Janeway's Token for Children. 
I felt sometimes much melted in duties, and took 
great delight in the performance of them ; and I some- 
times hoped that I was converted, or at least in a 
good and hopeful way for heaven and happiness, not 
knowing what conversion was. The Spirit of God 
at this time proceeded far with me ; I was remarkably 
dead to the world, and my thoughts were almost 
wholly employed about my soul's concerns; and I may 
indeed say, ' Almost I was persuaded to be a Christian.' 
I was also exceedingly distressed and melancholy 
at the death of my mother, in March, 1732. But 
afterward my religious concern began to decline, 
and by degrees I fell back into a considerable degree 
of security, though I still attended secret prayer. 

"About the 15th of April, 1733, 1 removed from my 
father's house to East Haddam, where I spent four 
years; but still 'without God in the world,' though, 
for the most part, I went a round of secret duty. I 
was not much addicted to young company, or frolick- 
ing, as it was called, but this I know, that when I did 
go into such company, I never returned with so good a 
conscience as when I went; it always added new guilt, 
made me afraid to come to the throne of grace, and 
spoiled those good frames I was wont sometimes to 
please myself with. But, alas! all my good frames 
were but self -righteousness, not founded on a desire 
for the glory of God. 

"About the latter end of April, 1737, being full 
nineteen years of age, I removed to Durham, to 
work on my farm, and so continued about one year; 
frequently longing, from a natural inclination, after 



Examples of Conversion 251 

a liberal education. When about twenty years of 
age, I applied myself to study; and was now engaged 
more than ever in the duties of religion. I became 
very strict and watchful over my thoughts, words, and 
actions; and I must be sober indeed, because I 
designed to devote myself to the ministry; and 
imagined I did dedicate myself to the Lord. Some 
time in April, 1738, I went to Mr. Fiske's (pastor 
of the church in Haddam) and lived with him 
during his life. I remember he advised me wholly to 
abandon young company, and associate myself with 
grave elderly people: which counsel I followed. My 
manner of life was exceeding regular, and full of re- 
ligion, such as it was; for I read the Bible more than 
twice through in less than a year, spent much time 
every day in prayer and other secret duties, gave great 
attention to the word preached, and endeavored to 
my utmost to retain it. So much concerned was I 
about religion, that I agreed with some young persons 
to meet privately on Sabbath evenings for religious 
exercises, and thought myself sincere in these duties; 
and after our meeting was ended, I used to repeat 
discourses of the day to myself; recollecting what I 
could, though sometimes very late at night. I used 
sometimes on Monday mornings to recollect the same 
sermons; I had considerable movings of pleasurable 
affection in duties, and had many thoughts of joining 
the church. In short, I had a very good outside* 
and rested entirely on my duties, though not sensible 
of it. After Mr. Fiske's death, I proceeded with 
my learning with my brother; was still very constant 
in religious duties, and often wondered at the levity 
of professors ; it was a trouble to me that they were so 



252 Appendix 

careless in religious matters. Thus I proceeded a 
considerable length on a self-righteous foundation; 
and should have been entirely lost and undone, had 
not the mercy of God prevailed. Some time in the 
beginning of winter, 1738, it pleased God one Sabbath- 
day morning, as I was walking out for some secret 
duties, to give me on a sudden such a sense of my dan- 
ger, and the wrath of God, that I stood amazed, 
and my former frames, that I had pleased myself 
with, all presently vanished. From the view I had of 
my sin and vileness, I was much distressed all that 
day, fearing the vengeance of God would overtake me. 
I was much dejected, kept much alone, and sometimes 
envied the birds and beasts their happiness, because 
they were not exposed to eternal misery, as I evidently 
saw I was. And thus I lived from day to day, being 
frequently in great distress: sometimes there ap- 
peared mountains before me to obstruct my hopes of 
mercy ; and the work of conversion appeared so great, 
that I thought I should never be the subject of it. I 
used, however, to pray and cry to God, and perform 
other duties with great earnestness; and thus hoped 
by some means to make the case better. And, 
though hundreds of times I renounced all pretences 
of any worth in my duties, as I thought, even while 
performing them, and often confessed to God that I 
deserved nothing, for the very best of them, but 
eternal condemnation; yet still I had a secret hope of 
recommending myself to God by my religious duties. 
When I prayed affectionately, and my heart seemed 
in some measure to melt, I hoped God would be 
thereby moved to pity me, my prayers then looked 
with some appearance of goodness in them, and I 



Examples of Conversion 253 

seemed to mourn for sin. And then I could in some 
measure venture on the mercy of God in Christ, 
as I thought, though the preponderating thought, the 
foundation of my hope, was some imagination of good- 
ness in my heart-melting, flowing of affections in duty, 
extraordinary enlargements, etc. Though, at times 
the gate appeared so very straight that it looked next 
to impossible to enter, yet, at other times I flattered 
myself that it was not so very difficult, and hoped 
that I should by diligence and watchfulness soon gain 
the point. Sometimes, after enlargement in duty 
and considerable affection I hoped I had made a 
good step towards heaven; imagined that God was 
affected as I was, and that he would hear such 
sincere cries, as I called them. And so sometimes, 
when I withdrew for secret duties in great distress, I 
returned comfortable; and thus healed myself with 
my duties. Some time in February, 1739, I set apart 
a day for secret fasting and prayer, and spent the day 
in almost incessant cries to God for mercy, that he 
would open my eyes to see the evil of sin, and the way 
of life by Jesus Christ. And God was pleased that 
day to make considerable discoveries of my heart to 
me. But still I trusted in all the duties I performed; 
though there was no manner of goodness in them, 
there being in them no respect to the glory of God, 
nor any such principle in my heart. Yet God was 
pleased to make my endeavors that day a means 
to show me my helplessness in some measure. Some- 
times I was greatly encouraged, and imagined that 
God loved me, and was pleased with me; and thought 
I should soon be fully reconciled to God. But the 
whole was founded on mere presumption, arising from 



254 Appendix 

enlargement in duty, or flowing affections, or some 
good resolutions, and the like. And when, at times, 
great distress began to arise, on a sight of my vileness, 
nakedness, and inability to deliver myself from a 
sovereign God, I used to put off all the discovery, as 
what I could not bear. Once, I remember, a terrible 
pang of distress seized me, and the thoughts of re- 
nouncing myself, and standing naked before God, 
stripped of all goodness, were so dreadful to me, that 
I was ready to say to them as Felix to Paul, 'Go thy 
way for this time.' Thus, though I daily longed for 
greater conviction of sin, supposing that I must see 
more of my dreadful state in order to a remedy; yet 
when the discoveries of my vile, hellish heart were 
made to me, the sight was so dreadful, and showed 
me so plainly my exposedness to damnation that I 
could not endure it. I constantly strove after what- 
ever qualifications I imagined others obtained before 
the reception of Christ, in order to recommend me to 
his favor. Sometimes I felt the power of a hard 
heart, and supposed it must be softened before Christ 
would accept of me; and when I felt any meltings 
of heart, I hoped now the work was almost done. 
Hence, when my distress still remained, I was wont 
to murmur at God's dealings with me; and thought, 
when others felt their hearts softened, God showed 
them mercy; but my distress remained still. Some- 
times I grew remiss and sluggish, without any great 
conviction of sin, for a considerable time together; 
but after such a season, convictions seized me more 
violently. One night, I remember in particular, when 
I was walking solitarily abroad, I had opened to me 
such a view of my sin, that I feared the ground would 



Examples of Conversion 255 

cleave asunder under my feet and become my grave ; 
and would send my soul quick into hell, before I 
could get home. And though I was forced to go to 
bed, lest my distress should be discovered by others, 
which I much feared; yet I scarcely durst sleep at all, 
for I thought it would be a great wonder if I should 
be out of hell in the morning. . . . 

"The many disappointments, great distresses, and 
perplexity, met with, put me into a most horrible 
frame of contesting with the Almighty; with an in- 
ward vehemence and virulence finding fault with 
his ways of dealing with mankind. I found great 
fault with the imputation of Adam's sin to his poster- 
ity ; and my wicked heart often wished for some other 
way of salvation than by Jesus Christ. Being like 
the troubled sea, my thoughts confused, I used to try 
to escape the wrath of God by some other means. I 
had strange projects, full of atheism, contriving to 
disappoint God's designs and decrees concerning me, 
or to escape his notice, and hide myself from him. 
But when, upon reflection, I saw these projects were 
vain, and would not serve me, and that I could con- 
trive nothing for my own relief ; this would throw my 
mind into the most horrid frame, to wish there was no 
God, or to wish there were some other God that could 
control him, etc. These thoughts and desires were 
the secret inclinations of my heart, frequently acting 
before I was aware ; but alas ! they were rnine, al- 
though I was affrighted when I came to reflect on 
them. When I considered, it distressed me to think 
that my heart was so full of enmity against God; 
and it made me tremble, lest his vengeance should 
suddenly fall upon me. I used before to imagine, that 



256 Appendix 

my heart was not so bad as the Scriptures and some 
other books represented it. Sometimes I used to 
take much pains to work it up into a good frame, an 
humble submissive disposition; and hoped there was 
then some goodness in me. . . . Thus scores of times, 
I vainly imagined myself humbled and prepared 
for saving mercy. And while I was in this distressed, 
bewildered, and tumultuous state of mind, the cor- 
ruption of my heart was especially irritated with 
the following things. 1. The strictness of the divine 
law. For I found it was impossible for me, after my 
utmost pains, to answer its demands. ... 2. An- 
other thing was that faith alone was the condition of 
salvation; that God would not come down to lower 
terms, and that he would not promise life and salva- 
tion upon my sincere and hearty prayers and en- 
deavors. ... 3. Another thing was, that I could not 
find out what faith was ; or what it was to believe, and 
come to Christ. ... 4. Another thing to which I found 
a great inward opposition, was the sovereignty of God. 
I could not bear that it should be wholly at God's 
pleasure to save or damn me, just as he would. . . . 
All this time the Spirit of God was powerfully at work 
with me ; and I was inwardly pressed to relinquish all 
self-confidence, all hopes of ever helping myself by 
any means whatever. . . . One morning, while I 
was walking in a solitary place, as usual, I at once 
saw that all my contrivances and projects to effect 
or procure deliverance and salvation for myself 
were utterly vain; I was brought quite to a stand, as 
finding myself totally lost. I had thought many times 
before, that the difficulties in my way were very 
great; but now I saw, in another and very different 



Examples of Conversion 257 

light, that it was for ever impossible for me to do any- 
thing towards helping or delivering myself. . . . The 
tumult that had been before in my mind was now 
quieted; and I was something eased of that distress, 
which I felt, while struggling against a sight of myself, 
and of the divine sovereignty. I had the greatest 
certainty that my state was for ever miserable, for all 
that I could do; and wondered that I had never been 
sensible of it before. While I remained in this state, 
my notions respecting my duties were quite different 
from what I had ever entertained in times past. Be- 
fore this, the more I did in duty, the more hard I 
thought it would be for God to cast me off; though at 
the same time I confessed, and thought I saw, that 
there was no goodness or merit in my duties ; but now 
the more I did in prayer or any other duty, the more 
I saw I was indebted to God for allowing me to ask 
for mercy; for I saw it was self-interest had led me to 
pray, and that I had never once prayed from any 
respect to the glory of God. . . . 

"I continued, as I remember, in this state of mind, 
from Friday morning till the Sabbath evening follow- 
ing (July 12, 1739), when I was walking again in the 
same solitary place, where I was brought to see myself 
lost and helpless, as before mentioned. Here, in a 
mournful melancholy state, I was attempting to 
pray; but found no heart to engage in that or any 
other duty; my former concern, exercise, and religious 
affections were now gone. I thought the Spirit of 
God had quite left me; but still was not distressed: 
yet disconsolate, as if there was nothing in heaven or 
earth could make me happy. Having been thus 
endeavoring to pray — though, as I thought, very 



258 Appendix 

stupid and senseless — for near half an hour, then, as I 
was walking in a dark, thick grove, unspeakable glory 
seemed to open to the view and apprehension of my 
soul. I do not mean any external brightness for 
I saw no such thing ; nor do I intend any imagination 
of a body of light, somewhere in the third heavens, 
or anything of that nature ; but it was a new inward 
apprehension or view that I had of God, such as I 
never had before, nor any thing which had the least 
resemblance of it. I stood still, wondered, and 
admired ! I knew that I had never seen before any- 
thing comparable to it for excellency and beauty; 
it was widely different from all the conceptions that 
ever I had of God, or things divine. I had no particu- 
lar apprehension of any one person in the Trinity, 
either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost; but it 
appeared to be divine glory. My soul rejoiced with joy 
unspeakable, to see such a God, such a glorious Divine 
Being; and I was inwardly pleased and satisfied that 
he should be God over all for ever and ever. My soul 
was so captivated and delighted with the excellency, 
loveliness, greatness, and other perfections of God, 
that I was even swallowed up in him; at least to that 
degree, that I had no thought (as I remember) at first 
about my own salvation, and scarce reflected there 
was such a creature as myself. 

"Thus God, I trust, brought me to a hearty disposi- 
tion to exalt him, and set him on the throne, and princi- 
pally and ultimately to aim at his honor and glory, 
as King of the universe. I continued in this state of 
inward joy, peace, and astonishment, till near dark, 
without any sensible abatement; and then began to 
think and examine what I had seen; and felt sweetly 



Examples of Conversion 259 

composed in my mind all the evening following. I felt 
myself in a new world, and everything about me 
appeared in a new aspect from what it was wont to do. 
At this time the way of salvation opened to me with 
such infinite wisdom, suitableness, and excellency, 
that I wondered I should ever think of any other way 
of salvation; was amazed that I had not dropped my 
own contrivances, and complied with this lovely, 
blessed, and excellent way before. If I could have 
been saved by my own duties, or any other way that I 
had formerly contrived, my whole soul would now 
have refused it. I wondered that all the world did 
not see and comply with this way of salvation, entirely 
by the righteousness of Christ." 1 

Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844). "I imagined all 
was well with me till I was about eighteen years old, 
when I heard a sermon preached on the subject of 
regeneration, which put me upon thinking of the 
need of a change of heart in myself. . . . Christian 
conversation gave me the most painful sensations. I 
tried to repent, but I could not feel the least sorrow 
for my innumerable sins. By endeavoring to repent; 
I saw my heart still remained impenitent. Although 
I knew I hated everything serious, yet I determined 
to habituate myself to the duties which God required, 
and see if I could not, by this means, be made to 
love him; and I continued in this state some months. 
The fear of having committed the unpardonable sin 
now began to rise in my mind; and I could find no 

1 " Life and Diary of David Brainerd," by Jonathan 
Edwards, Works, vol. ii., pp. 316-319. 



26o Appendix 

rest, day nor night. When my weary limbs slept, the 
fear of waking in a miserable eternity prevented the 
closing of my eyes; and nothing gave me ease. No 
voice of mirth or sound whatever was heard, but what 
reminded me of the awful day, when God shall bring 
every work into judgment. All self-righteousness 
failed me; and having no confidence in God, I was 
left in deep despondency. After a while, a surprising 
tremor seized my limbs and death seemed to have 
taken hold upon me. Eternity, the word eternity 
sounded louder than any voice I ever heard: and 
every moment of time seemed more valuable than all 
the wealth of the world. Not long after this, an 
unusual calmness pervaded my soul, which I thought 
little of at first, except that I was freed from my awful 
convictions; and this sometimes grieved me, fearing 
that I had lost all conviction. Soon after, hearing 
the feelings of a Christian described, I took courage, 
and thought I knew, by experience, what they were. 
The character of God and the doctrines of the Bible, 
which I could not meditate upon without hatred, 
especially those of election and free grace, now ap- 
peared delightful; and the only means by which, 
through grace, dead sinners can be the living sons of 
God. My heart feels its sinfulness. To confess 
my sins to God gives me peace which before I knew 
nothing of. To confess sorrow for it affords a joy 
which my tongue cannot express." 1 

Rev. Charles G. Finney, D.D. (1792-1840). In his 

Memoirs, written by himself, Mr. Finney says: "When 

1 Memoir of the Life and Character of Rev. Asahel Nettleton, 
D.D., by Bennet Tyler, D.D. pp. 16-18. 



Examples of Conversion 261 

I went to Adams to study law, I was almost as igno- 
rant of religion as a heathen. ... At Adams, for the 
first time, I sat statedly, for any length of time, under 
an educated ministry, that of Rev. George W. Gale, 
pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Adams, N. Y. 
But as I read my Bible and attended prayer meeting, 
heard Mr. Gale preach, and conversed with him, 
with the elders of the church, and with others, from 
time to time, I became very restless. A little con- 
sideration convinced me that I was by no means in a 
state of mind to go to heaven, if I should die. It 
seemed to me, that there must be something in re- 
ligion that was of infinite importance ; and it was soon 
settled with me, that if the soul was immortal I 
needed a great change in my inward state to be pre- 
pared for happiness in heaven. On Sabbath evening, 
in the autumn of 1821, I made up my mind that I 
would settle the question of my soul's salvation at 
once; that, if it were possible, I would make my peace 
with God. ' ' Some days later, going to his office, he was 
assailed with such questions as these, What are you 
waiting for? Did you not promise to give your heart 
to God? Are you endeavoring to work out a right- 
eousness of your own? — He says: "I took down my 
bass viol and, as I was accustomed to do, began to 
play and sing some pieces of sacred music. But, as 
soon as I began to sing those sacred words, I began 
to weep. . . . After trying in vain to suppress my tears, 
I put up my instrument." He retired to the woods 
for reflection and prayer ; and to conceal himself from 
possible passers-by, he crept into a space between two 
large trees that had fallen to the ground. He says: 
" In attempting to pray, I would hear a rustling in the 



262 Appendix 

leaves, as I thought, and would stop and look up to 
see if any one were coming. This I did several times. 
Finally I found myself verging fast to despair. ... I 
began to feel deeply that it was too late ; that it must 
be that I was given up of God, and was past hope. 
... I again thought I heard some one approach me, 
and I opened my eyes to see whether it were so. But 
right there, the revelation of my pride of heart, as the 
great difficulty that stood in my way, was distinctly 
shown to me. An overwhelming sense of my wicked- 
ness in being ashamed to have a human being see me 
on my knees before God, took such powerful posses- 
sion of me, that I cried at the top of my voice, and 
exclaimed that I would not leave that place if all the 
men on the earth and all the devils in hell surrounded 
me. . . . The sin appeared awful and infinite. It 
broke me down before the Lord: I had intellectually 
believed the Bible before, but never had the truth been 
in my mind, that faith was a voluntary trust, instead 
of an intellectual state. I was as conscious, as I was 
of my own existence, of trusting, at that moment, in 
God's veracity. * God's promises' did not seem to 
fall so much into my intellect, as into my heart. 
I found that my mind had become most wonderfully 
quiet and peaceful. I said to myself, What is this? 
I must have grieved the Holy Ghost entirely away. 
I have lost all my conviction. . . . Why! thought I, I 
was never so far from being concerned about my sal- 
vation in my life. But, take any view of it I would, 
I could not be anxious at all about my soul and about 
my spiritual state. The repose of my mind was 
unspeakably great. I never can describe it in 
words." His preceptor in the law having removed 



Examples of Conversion 263 

to another office, he says: "By evening we got the 
books and furniture adjusted, and I made, in the 
open fireplace, a good fire, hoping to spend the even- 
ing alone. Just at dark, Squire W., seeing that every- 
thing was adjusted, bade me good night, and went 
to his home. I had accompanied him to the door and, 
as I closed the door and turned around, my heart 
seemed to be liquid within me. All my feelings 
seemed to rise and flow out ; and the utterance of my 
heart was, I want to pour my whole soul out to God. 
The rising of my soul was so great that I rushed into 
the room : nevertheless it appeared to me as if it were 
perfectly light. As I went in and shut the door after 
me, it seemed as if I met the Lord Jesus Christ, face 
to face. It did not occur to me then, nor did it 
for some time afterwards, that it was wholly a mental 
state. On the contrary, it seemed to me as if I saw 
him as I would see any other man. He said nothing, 
but looked at me in such a manner as to break me 
right down at his feet. ... I wept aloud, like a little 
child, and made such confession as I could with my 
choked utterances. ... As I turned, and was about 
to take a seat by the fire, (in the front room of the 
office,) I received a mighty baptism of the Holy 
Ghost. Without any expectation of it; . . . with- 
out any recollection that I had ever heard the thing 
mentioned by any person. . . . the Holy Ghost de- 
scended upon me, in a manner that seemed to go 
through my body and soul. I could feel the impres- 
sion like a wave of electricity, going through and 
through me; indeed, it seemed to come in waves and 
waves of liquid love, ... I can recollect distinctly 
that it seemed to fan me with immense wings." 



264 Appendix 

During the night, he says, he awoke many times, "on 
account of the great flow of the love of God that was 
in my heart. I was so filled with love I could not 
sleep." 

Rev. Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887). "I re- 
member having religious impressions, distinct and 
definite, as early as when I was eight or nine years old. 
I remember that, when my brother George, who was 
next older than I and who was beginning to be my 
helpful companion, became a Christian, being awak- 
ened and converted in college, it seemed as though a 
gulf had come between us; and as though he was a 
saint on one side of it, while I was a little reprobate on 
the other side. If there had been a total eclipse of the 
sun, I should not have been in more profound dark- 
ness outwardly than I was inwardly. " 

On one occasion, the funeral of a companion, he 
says: "I went into an ecstasy of anguish. At inter- 
vals of days and weeks, I cried and prayed. There 
was scarcely a retired place in the garden, in the wood- 
house, in the carriage-house, or in the barn, that was 
not a scene of my crying and praying. 

"When I was fourteen years of age I left Boston 
and went to Mt. Pleasant. There broke out, while 
I was there, one of those infectious religious revivals, 
which have no basis of judicious instruction, but 
spring from inexperienced zeal. It resulted in many 
mushroom hopes; and I had one of them: but I do 
not know how, or why, I was converted. I only know 
that I was in a sort of day-dream, in which I hoped I 
had given myself to Christ. 

"When I went to college, (Amherst,) there was a 



Examples of Conversion 265 

revival there , I was then about seventeen years old, 
and I began to pass from boyhood to manhood, but 
I was yet in an unsettled state of mind, I had no firm 
religious ground to stand on. ... I went through 
another phase of suffering, which was far worse than 
any I had previously experienced. It seemed as 
though all the darknesses of my childhood were mere 
puffs to the blackness I was now passing through. 
My feeling was such that, if dragging myself on my 
belly through the street had promised any chance of 
resulting in good, I would have done it. No man 
was so mean that I was not willing to ask him to 
pray for me. There was no humiliation I would not 
have submitted to ten thousand times over if, thereby, 
I could have found relief from the doubt, perplexity, 
and fear, which tormented me. 

"I went to Dr. Humphrey, in my darkness of soul, 
and said, I am without hope, and am utterly wretched, 
and I want to be a Christian. 

"He sat, and looked with great compassion upon 
me, (for he was one of the best men on earth. If 
there is a saint in heaven Dr. Humphrey is one,) and 
he said, 'Ah, it is the Spirit of God, my young man; 
and .vhen the Spirit of God is at work in a soul, I dare 
not interfere ' ; and I went away in blacker darkness 
than when I came, if possible. I went to an inquiry 
meeting, which Professor Hitchcock was conducting; 
and when he saw me there, he said, 'My friends, I am 
so overwhelmed with the consciousness of God's 
presence in this room, that I cannot speak a word'; 
and he stopped talking; and I got up and went out, 
without obtaining rescue or help. Then I resorted 
to prayer, and frequently prayed all night ; or should 



266 Appendix 

have done so, if I had not gone to sleep. I tried a 
great many devices; I strove with terrific earnestness 
and tremendous strength; and I remember, that one 
night, when I knelt before the fire, where I had been 
studying and praying, there came the thought to my 
mind, — Will God permit the devil to have charge of 
one of his children that does not want to be deceived, 
— and, that instant, there rose up in me such a sense 
of God's taking care of those who put their trust in 
him, that, for an hour, all the world was crystalline; 
the heavens were lucid; and I sprang to my feet, and 
began to cry and laugh ; and, feeling that I must tell 
somebody what the Lord had done for me, I went and 
told Dr. Humphrey and others. 

"I shall never forget the feelings, with which I 
walked forth that May morning. . . . The singing of 
the birds in the woods, — for I roamed in the woods, — 
was cacophonious to the sweet music of my thoughts ; 
and there were no forms in the universe, which seemed 
to me graceful enough to represent the being, the con- 
ception of whose character had just dawned upon my 
mind. ,,I 

S. H. Hadley, Superintendent of the old Jerry 
McAuley Mission in Water Street, New York. 

"I gave up my studies, took a travelling position, 
became a professional gambler, and for fifteen years 
rarely went to bed sober." As a consequence of 
his dissipation he lost his position and became an 

1 A Biography of Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, by William and 
Samuel Scoville, pp. 98-99. 



Examples of Conversion 267 

outcast. "One Tuesday evening, on the 18th of 
April, 1882, I sat in a saloon in Harlem, a homeless, 
friendless, dying drunkard: I had pawned or sold 
everything that would bring a drink : . . . I had not 
eaten for days; and, for four nights preceding, I 
had suffered with delirium tremens. As I sat there 
thinking I seemed to feel some great and mighty 
presence; I did not know then what it was. I 
learned afterwards that it was Jesus, the sinner's 
friend. I walked up to the bar and pounded it with 
my fists till I made the glasses rattle. I said I would 
never take another drink, if I died in the street. . . . 
Something said, If you want to keep that promise, go 
and have yourself locked up. I went to the nearest 
station-house and had myself locked up." 

He tells us that in his cell he prayed; in the morning 
went home to his brother ; and in the evening attended 
a meeting at the Jerry McAuley Mission, and made up 
his mind that he "would be saved or die right there. " 
When the invitation was given he knelt at the foot 
of the platform. "How I wondered if I would be 
saved; if God would help me. I was a total stranger, 
but I felt that I had sympathy, and it helped me. 
Jerry made the first prayer; I shall never forget it. 
He said: ' Dear Saviour, won't you look down in pity 
on these poor souls; they need your help, Lord; they 
can't get along without it. Blessed Jesus, these poor 
sinners have got themselves into a bad hole. Won't 
you help them out? Speak to them, Lord, do, for 
Jesus' sake. Amen.' " Then they were asked to 
pray for themselves. "How I trembled as he ap- 
proached me. Though I had knelt down with the 
determination to give my heart to God, when it came 



268 Appendix 

to the very moment of the grand decision, I felt like 
backing out. The devil knelt by my side, and 
whispered in my ears crimes I had forgotten for 
months. What are you going to do about such mat- 
ters, if you start to be a Christian to-night? Now you 
can't afford to make a mistake; had you not better 
think this matter over and try to fix up some of the 
troubles you are in, and then start? O what a con- 
flict was going on in my soul ! A blessed whisper said, 
Come. The devil said, Be careful. Jerry's hand 
was on my head. He said, Brother, pray. I said, 
Can't you pray for me? Jerry said, All the prayers 
in the world won't save you unless you pray for 
yourself. I halted but a moment, and then, with a 
breaking heart, I said, Dear Jesus, can you help me? 
Dear reader, never with mortal tongue, can I describe 
that moment. Although, up to that moment, my 
soul had been filled with indescribable gloom, I 
felt the glorious brightness of the noon-day sun shine 
into my heart; I felt I was a free man. the pre- 
cious feeling of safety, of freedom, of resting on Jesus ! 
. . . From that moment until now I have never 
wanted a drink of whiskey." 1 

1 James H. Leuba, American Journal of Psychology, vol. vii., 
PP- 331-332, 384-385- 



INDEX 



Age of conversion, 124 

Alexander, Archibald, D.D., 98 

American Indians, medicine 
of, 42 

Anthropomorphism and Mod- 
ern Thought, 92 

Anthropotropism, 11 

Antsie, Dr., 123 

Arnold, Matthew, definition 
of culture defective, 217 

Attention, expectant, 103 

Augustine, Saint, 233 

B 

Baal, in 

Bacchanalia, the, 33, 112 
Beecher, Henry W., 264 
Begbie, Harold, Twice-Born 

Men, 141 
Beghards and Beguines, 115 
Bourrou and Burot, 141 
Brainerd, David, conversion 

of, 249 
Brethren and Sisters of Free 

Spirit, 115 
Bushnell, Dr. Horace, 22 



Catalepsy, 148 



Character, changes in, from 
natural causes, 138; how 
produced, 136 

Chemotropism, 7 

Child and parent, relation of, 
96 

Children, members of the 
Church, 84 

Christs, sect of, in Russia, 121 

Church and State, 196; what 
is the, 188; status in, of 
citizens of a Christian state, 
192; not doing the work 
commanded, 195 

Clement of Alexandria, 50 

Coe, Prof. George A., 127 

Co-enesthesia, 133 

Commission to the Church 
narrowed, 169 

Confession, 223 

Conversion, 25, 57; definition 
of, 57; scriptural use of the 
term, 59; divine agency in, 
63; means employed, 74; 
Hodge's views on, 75; au- 
thor's comments, 82; of 
Jonathan Edwards, 85; vari- 
ous views of, 87; methods 
commonly used to produce, 
89; natural causes of, 94; 
age at, 124; of Paul, 162? 



269 



270 



Index 



Conversion — Continued 
practical consequences of the 
doctrine, 166; evils attending 
doctrine of, 169; doctrine, a 
cause of unbelief, 170; leads 
to a forbidden judgment, 
171; a strain on the pure 
motives of the ministry, 
172; mistaken doctrine of, 
shuts out from the Church 
children of God, 178; de- 
clares the secret things that 
belong to God, 179; makes 
unwarranted distinction in 
religion, 183 

Covenant, the half-way, 66 

Culture, Matthew Arnold's 
definition of, defective, 217; 
spiritual, 213 

Cybele, 34 



Dancing mania of the Middle 

Ages, 105 
Daniels, Prof. Arthur H., 129 
Darwin, Francis, 5 
Degeneration, 101 
Demeter, 34 

Diocletian, Emperor, 142 
Diogenes, 142 
Dionysus, 32, 112 
Discontent, dissatisfaction, and 

distress, 94 
Divine agency in conversion, 

63 



Ecstasy, absence of, in the 
Early Church, 44; the reli- 



gious, in the heathen world, 
29 ; absence of, in the life of 
Jesus, 44; in the Christian 
world, 44 

Edwards, Jonathan, on the 
affections, 71; narrative of 
surprising conversions, 68; 
conversion of, 85 

Eleusinian mysteries, 36 

Elijah and the prophets of 
Baal, 52 

Elizabeth of Genton, 117 

Ellis, Havelock, 123 

Emotion, sympathetic commu,- 
nication of, 98 ; the psycho- 
logy of, 130; the source of, 
131; origin of, 133; correla- 
tion and transformation of, 
146 

Empire, the Holy Roman, 197 

Evangelism, and evils attend- 
ing, 200 ; in the Early Church, 
200; modern, evils of, 202; 
modern advertising used in, 
207; the needed, 227 

Evangelistic methods, 90; ex- 
amples of , 91 ; mission of the 
disciples, 211 

Evils attending the doctrine 
of conversion, 169 

Excitement, religious, 98 

Experiment, the test of, 160 



Faith, walking by, 186 
Feeling, the cause of all re- 
ligious action, 3; the cause 
of tropism, 3; sexual, 108 
Finney, Charles D., 260 



Index 



271 



Flagellation, 115 

Forgiveness, 220; condition on 
the part of God, 221 ; condi- 
tion on the part of man, 222 ; 
preliminaries to, 222 

Francis of Assisi, Saint, 143 

Francis of Paris, effects at 
tomb of, 107 

Free Spirit, Brethren and 
Sisters of, 115 



Galvanotropism, 7 
Geotropism, 6 
Gnosticism, 47 

Grace of Holy Orders, 19; sac- 
ramental, 20 

H 

Hadley, S. H., 266 

Healing, miraculous, 21 

Hecker, Dr. J. F. C, 106 

Heliotropism, 6 

Herman, Prof. Wilhelm, 93 

Hildebrand, 198 

Hodge, Rev. Charles, D.D., 

24. 75 
Holy Roman Empire, the, 197 
Hypnotism, 148 



Iamblicus, 40 

Ideas, fixed or dominant, 103 
Illumination, spiritual, 21 
Indians, American, medicine 

of, 42 
Insanity, 148 
Isis, in 



James, Prof. William, 131, 134, 

144 
Joel's prophecy, 152 

K 

Krafft-Ebing, Dr., 116 



Lancaster, E. Ray, on degener- 
ation, 1 01 
Lange, Prof. C., 132 
Lateau, Louise, 103 
Liber, rites of, 113 
Liberalia, 112 
Linga, no 

Loeb, Prof. Jacques, M.D., 6, 9 
Luther, Martin, 236 

M 

Mania, dancing, 105 

Maria Magdalena of Pazzi, 116 

Marie de l'lncarnation, 118 

Massillon, 194 

Maximilla, 50 

Medicine of American Indi- 
ans, 42 

Michaelis, John David, on 
prophecy, 51 

Miracles, possible, 35; in the 
soul, the alleged, 19 

Miraculous healing, 21 

Montanism, 47 

Montanus, 47 

Moody, D. L., 91 

Mysteries, the Eleusinian, 36 



272 



Index 



N 

Natural causes of conversion, 

94 
Neo-Platonism, 38 
Nettleton, Asahel, 259 
Nordau, Max, on degeneration, 

102 



Obstructions to the tendency 
to turn to God, effect of, 100 
Oracles, the ancient, 31 
Osiris, in 



Papal Infallibility, 20 

Parkman, Francis, 42, 120 

Paul, conversion of, 162 

Pentecostal gifts, decline and 
deterioration of, 152 

Personality, divided, 144 

Phallus, the, no, 112 

Porphyry, 39 

Presbyterian Synod, first di- 
vision of, 67 

Prophecy, Joel's, 152; and 
Pentecost, 148 

Prophets, Hebrew, spoke in 
a state of trance, 149 

Providence not excluded from 
the inner world, 164 

Psychology of emotion, 130 

Pythagoras, 32 



Regeneration, 19, 23 
Religion, origin of, 12; and 



superstition, from a tropism, 

12; two elements of, 21 
Religious excitement, 98 
Repentance and forgiveness, 

220 
Reproductive impulse, 108 
Revival, at Cambuslang, 70; 

at Northampton, 1776, 68 
Reynolds, Mary, 139 
Ribot, 139 



Sexual feeling, 108 
Siva, representations of, no 
Spiritual illumination, 21 
Starbuck, Prof. Edwin Diller, 

124 
Stearns, Dr. L. F., 22 
Stereotropism, 8 
Sufism, 41 
Sulli, Raymond, 144 
Sympathy, propagation of, 98 
Synagogue, the, 191 
Synod, Boston, in 1662, 65; 

first Presbyterian division 

of, 67 



Tarantism, 107 

Theology, 74 

Thesmophoric, 114 

Theotropism, an evidence of 
the existence of God, 14; in 
man, 12, 99 

Tigretier, 108 

Trance, 148 

Tropism, 3; in plants, 4; in ani- 
mals, 6; cause of, in lower 



Index 



273 



Tropism — Continued 

animals, 6; characteristics 
of, 9; in man, 10; evolution- 
ary function of, 15 

Tropisms, peculiarity of two, 
in man, 16 



Variety of means and difference 
of result, 74 



Vitus, Saint, 106 
W 

Way of Life, Charles Hodge, 

75 

Whitefield and Edwards, 70 



Yoga, the, 29 



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